The Fight Before Christmas
by RizzlesSizzles
Summary: Christmas is fast approaching and a difficult case is causing friction between Jane and Maura. Rizzles Fic. Rated M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Well, here is my first Chrizzles fic of the season! I know I should be working on Moments in Time because I haven't updated it in forever but life has been crazy the last few months and just very recently breaking my ankle hasn't helped. But then again, without breaking an ankle, this fic wouldn't have been written. **

**This originally was only going to be a one shot, but then somehow I ended up with an outline for 8 chapters (even though its not set in stone) and here we are with the first one. I wasn't going to post it because I wasn't sure it was what I wanted to write but a friend of mine read the first chapter, liked the general outline of the later chapters and hounded me to carry on with it, so if you hate it, blame her. I'll tell you exactly where she lives, make sure your pitchforks are sharp lol  
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**The plot won't be too complicated, there's plenty of fluff, plenty of confrontation and just a teeny bit of angst but stick with me, I love a happy ending as much as the rest of you, especially at Christmas :)  
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**Enough from me. I hope you like the first chapter :)  
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* * *

**Chapter 1**

_Thursday, December 20__th_

Korsak couldn't help but notice that Jane had slammed her drawer a little too enthusiastically as she rifled around in her desk looking for a pen that actually worked. His eyes followed her as she swore almost inaudibly and moved stacks of paperwork aside, rummaging in drawers again before she rolled her eyes and quit looking, preferring to borrow one of Frost's pens instead. As Korsak crossed the room with his mug for a coffee refill, he noticed the agitated set of her shoulders and the way her leg bounced up and down in the manner that it usually did when she was pissed off. The last time he had seen her so out of sorts was when Ian had been back in town, and realised suddenly that whatever was causing her mood, Maura Isles had to be part of the equation.

Korsak sighed and eyed the door wistfully, knowing that this was exactly the reason why he resisted getting married a fourth time. Animals were easy, they ate, they slept, they enjoyed the simple things in life, and they were easy to understand. Women, not so much. He'd never met a woman that didn't come with an invisible instruction manual and a whole boatload of complex emotions that he'd never figure out if he tried. He was grateful that Jane didn't seem as complicated as most women, and was usually only ever pissed off for three reasons: work, her mother, and Maura. He knew there was no issue with work; her mutterings had been almost whispered so it wasn't her mother, which really only left the medical examiner as the culprit. Although Korsak wasn't naive enough to believe that Maura was the sole cause of the problem, even though in a roundabout way she was.

"Oh hey, Jane. Coffee?" Korsak asked, trying to sound as if he'd only just noticed she was in the room.

'Huh?" she looked up blankly at him, not realising for a moment what the question had been and then blinked to try and shake herself into the present as Korsak waved his mug at her. "No. Thanks, though."

"Cavanaugh on your back about the Jefferson case?" Korsak knew he wasn't, but it wouldn't do to let Jane think he'd actually been watching her since the minute she'd stomped back into the bullpen.

"No. He's been in meetings all morning, I haven't seen him."

So it definitely wasn't about work, which left only Angela or Maura. Korsak decided to test the waters further, judging that it was pretty much safe at the moment given that Jane wasn't spitting fire or looking as if she was ready to chew his arm off.

"I was thinking of going down to the cafe for lunch soon. You want me to bring you something back up?"

Jane shook her head. "Thanks for the offer, but I'll go down and see ma later. I'm just not hungry right now."

Definitely Maura, then. Korsak decided to press a little further seeing as how Jane was in a pissy mood, but apparently wasn't so pissy that she was spreading it around.

"Oh that reminds me. Is there any news on the lab results for Chad Jefferson, yet?"

Jane growled and Korsak knew he was suddenly on the money. "There might have been if Maura wasn't so damn reluctant to do tests."

"Really? What's eating at her then? Not like the Doc to refuse to do tests." Korsak decided to play along a little.

Jane considered the question and leaned back in her chair with only a small huff, already having started to calm down. She knew she sounded ridiculous, the whole damn thing was ridiculous but nobody could get under her skin quite like Maura Isles and the woman knew it and took full advantage of the fact. Closing her eyes, she rubbed both hands over her face and then leaned forward on her elbows, her pile of paperwork forgotten.

"I pissed her off and she refused to do any more tests with me in the room," Jane said, deciding to run with the truth even if she was still a little annoyed. "I just got a hunch that there's something funny about that kid, Chad. I can't prove it, I may never prove it, but when half your family turns up dead and the only other two surviving members of your family are barely out of diapers, then chances are you're gonna be lookin' at the eldest as a suspect. Maura doesn't quite see it like that."

"She's not a detective, Jane. The Doc doesn't rely on hunches, or gut feelings." Korsak knew he was playing with fire in playing devil's advocate but he knew Jane would always expect that Maura had a fair hearing, even if she wasn't personally giving her one right now. "We have the luxury of formulating a theory and playing guessing games until something actually falls into place and we get a lead. Her world is different; she has to rely on science to prove without a doubt that a person is guilty. That's why it works so well, she provides the how and when and we provide the why."

"You missed out the who," Jane said, suddenly grinning now that she'd calmed down. "Or whom as Maura would say. I get that, I do. But I swear some days she does it just to annoy me."

"And you don't?"

She looked at the teasing grin on his face and nodded, her lips still creased into a smile. Knowing that that was exactly what she did. "Yeah, I tease her. I tease her a lot."

"And she teases back. But she's never teased you about work, at least not seriously. Listen, you can tell me to mind my own business, but you two have been bickering a lot lately. What in the world is going on?"

"I have no idea. We chug along and everything is great and then either she or I will say something and then suddenly one of us goes nuts."

"You ever tried talking to her about it?"

"This is Maura we're talking about. By the time we'd finished I'd have copped to Watergate and told her where Jimmy Hoffa's body is buried," Jane deadpanned as Korsak snickered around a sip of his rapidly cooling coffee. "To be perfectly honest, I really don't think anything is wrong. I know I don't have a problem with her and I'm pretty certain she doesn't have a problem with me. I think the stress just gets too much at times and we blow off steam at each other. I think she just caught me on a bad day."

Korsak nodded, not entirely convinced, pretty sure that he knew exactly what was wrong with them but he wasn't going to risk having his head bitten off. "Okay, kiddo. Just remember, if want to talk, you know where I am."

"Thanks, Korsak." Jane gave him a grateful smile and went back to her paperwork, wondering why she was barking at Maura and not everybody else. It was as if the universe had been tipped on its ass and her world was a complete mirror image of everything it once was. Normally, she'd been bickering with Korsak and Frost and Maura would be talking her down from the edge, except this time, Maura was the one threatening to push her over it.

* * *

"And how exactly does this get us any further forward?" Jane growled as she threw the file on Maura's breakfast bar as the blonde worked on chopping up some vegetables for dinner.

"It tells you that the Jefferson family were all deliberately murdered," Maura said calmly, trying to concentrate on what she was doing with the sharp knife she held in her hand and not on Jane so she didn't lose a finger.

"I already guessed that! Strangely enough, Maura, people don't hang around the house riddled with knife wounds for an evening's worth of entertainment!"

Maura shook her head as Jane began pacing the room and mumbling. It was typical of Jane to lash out at those around her when something went wrong, which wasn't usually a problem but lately, it had all been directed at Maura and she was getting sick of it. But then in all honesty, she could never claim to be innocent. She had done her fair share of grousing at Jane lately, feeling stressed out for reasons she couldn't quite fathom which had led to her starting more than one disagreement with the brunette.

"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit."

"Did you run a test on that too?" Jane snapped and pointed to the folder again. "How precisely am I supposed to move forward on an investigation when I don't have any forensic clues to follow?"

Maua sighed and stopped chopping, before resting her hands on the edge of the cutting board. "Jane, look at me, please. If there is any forensic evidence to find, I will find it. But if there isn't, then you can't expect me to pull something out of thin air that doesn't exist. The killer was obviously very careful about leaving any trace evidence behind and I cannot retrieve something I cannot find. What I would simply like to know is how that makes it my fault?"

"I wasn't blaming you," Jane shouted, although it certainly had sounded like it. "I've got two dead kids and three that are still alive but have no parents because they too, are dead. Now, according to everybody you speak to, they were like the fucking Partridge Family. The father was a real stand up guy, the mother a perfect housewife and yet you and I always know that there's quite often trouble in paradise. Chad Jefferson is hiding something and I want to know what it is."

"The autopsies don't prove that Chad Jefferson is a killer."

"The autopsies don't prove that he isn't, Maura," Jane fired back. "Why do you persist on fighting me at every turn over this?"

"I'm not fighting you over this. I'm trying to get you to see the facts. Whether Chad is guilty or not, has no bearing unless we can definitively prove using forensics that he actually committed the murders."

"Which is exactly why I needed you to get your ass in gear to prove it!" Jane growled as she thumped the folder containing Maura's autopsy findings.

"How can you prove something that isn't there?!" Maura snapped, finally losing her temper as she put the knife down loudly. "I'm a scientist, Jane. I can't tell you the sky is green and the grass is blue when it isn't. I know your gut feeling is strong on this, and I appreciate that even if it isn't the way I work, but I can't expose what I can't find, Jane. Expecting me to do that is unfair."

"And expecting me to arrest a murderer when I have no clue who is guilty because the forensic evidence isn't telling me a damn thing, how is that fair?!"

"It isn't, Jane, but nobody ever said life is fair. As much as I love my job, I'd prefer that my patients didn't end up on my table the way they do. It would be nice if everybody left the world as peacefully as they should, but the sad fact of life is that they don't and no matter how much pressure you put on yourself to find every killer that crosses your path, it won't change that."

"So, I'm wasting my time?" Jane threw her hands up in the air. "My whole career has just been a waste of time, is that what you're saying? Maybe I should pack it all in and do something else. Not making any damn difference so why do I bother?"

"Oh for god sake, Jane!" Maura snatched her apron off and balled it up before throwing it on the counter in a fit of temper that Jane wasn't quite used to witnessing. "Why is it you take everything I say as a personal attack? Why is it everything I do, you make me feel like I disappoint you at every turn."

"I never said that!"

"You didn't have to. I can see it, I can see it every time I fail to find some clue that might satisfy you and have the case closed a little faster. I know I might seem like it, Jane, but I'm not superwoman. I'm human, and I have my limits, even if I can sometimes reach further and faster than your average person."

"And you think I don't see the look of pity in your eyes when I don't catch a killer? You think I don't see the way you look at me, as I'm somehow lacking because I couldn't manage to get justice for a victim."

"The look you see isn't pity," Maura said, desperately trying to keep a lid on her temper. "It's compassion for a person I know who puts their own life on the line in order to find closure for others. It's empathy, because I know just how hard it is to prove sometimes from my own experiences because I'm always right there with you, Jane. You're never on your own but you choose to put yourself apart from everybody else. Well that's fine; I can't stop you doing that. But what I can do is stop you from blaming me every time you put too much pressure on yourself to get a conviction."

"I'm not blaming you!" Jane groaned, realising that she'd been taking all of her frustrations out on her best friend and she could see how it would look like she was blaming Maura, especially with some of the dumb things that she'd said. "Jesus, Maura, I could never blame you for anything."

Maura didn't quite know what to say anymore, certainly didn't want to argue anymore and headed toward the fridge for a bottle of wine. She held up a bottle of beer in silent offer of a drink but Jane shook her head, knowing that alcohol was the last thing she needed right now even if it was the only thing she wanted. She took a seat at the breakfast bar and listened to Maura opening the bottle of wine as she dropped her head into her hands and threaded her fingers through her dark, curly hair in frustration.

Maura sipped at her wine, and then retrieved the knife and began chopping again, still not knowing what to say. It wasn't the first argument they'd had today, it wasn't even the second, but so far it was the worst. It seemed like they'd been at loggerheads for weeks, but there was never any pattern to it, never any single trigger, really. One minute they'd be curled up on the sofa together and laughing about something and the next, they'd be facing each other across the room and arguing about something stupid. And it was stupid, because Jane knew Maura couldn't find evidence that didn't exist and that she would never entertain the idea that Jane was doing anything other than trying her best to catch the killer. They never usually fought over cases like this unless there was some personal connection and so Maura was confused as to why they kept baiting each other.

It wasn't just work either. They'd fight over shopping, or television, or just about anything they happened to be doing at the time. Mostly, the fights were over quickly, they'd shake their head and laugh and then all would be forgiven and forgotten, but the longer it went on, the more Maura was sure that they were both mystified as to why they were even arguing in the first place. Nothing had changed for them, and there were no problems, nothing they'd done to hurt each other, nothing they'd done or said that would even be perceived as wrong, so Maura was entirely unsure about the origin of the problem. At first, she was convinced she'd missed some sort of social clue, that she'd done or said something that she wasn't meant to have done, but as time had passed, she had realised that Jane was just as mixed up about the state of affairs as she was. The only thing Maura could definitively believe it to be attributable to was stress. Perhaps that really was the cause after all.

"I meant to tell you..." Jane started out tentatively, holding a breath in until Maura looked in her direction. The blonde didn't look as if she immediately wanted Jane's liver on the end of her knife so that was a bonus. "Your new best friend was at the station today."

"New best friend?" Maura looked puzzled. "What best friend? The only best friend I have is you."

Jane was being polite. She could have said douche-bag, dickhead, doofus, asshole, or any other adjective to describe one of Maura's admirers but for the most part she didn't want to kick off another argument. "That guy, the one who was following you around after the Grafton case like a puppy."

"You mean Agent Thompson?"

"Yeah."

"What did he want?"

"Wanted me to ask you if you wanted to have dinner with him? What the nimrod actually meant was ask you if you'll let him take you to bed." Jane could have bitten her tongue off when she saw the sudden flare of anger in Maura's eyes.

"No, I won't let him take me to bed, not that it's any of your business." Although Maura wished Jane would make it her business, couldn't help feeling irked that she hadn't already.

"Clearly not," Jane said in a tone that was meant to be sarcastically chipper. "Just do me a favour and tell him that, because I'm not your goddamn PA and nor am I a dating service. Enjoy the rest of your evening, I'm out."

"Don't move an inch, or I'll make you regret it," Maura threatened and trotted off after Jane. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I thought I might take in a little of the night air. You know, perhaps a little drive right around the seventh circle of hell and then home to bed."

"I'm cooking dinner."

"No, you're hacking carrots to pieces, but hey, have fun with that. G'night." Jane once again headed for the door, only to have Maura follow her.

"Jane."

"I'm not walking you before I go. You'll have to use the bathroom instead." Jane tried for humour but could see by the look on Maura's face that it wasn't going to work, at least not tonight.

"I'm not interested in Agent Thompson," Maura said, knowing that the thought bothered Jane and she wanted her to be clear about it. "I am not going to sleep with him, I'm not going to have dinner with him and I'm not even going to have a conversation with him that consists of anything except asking him to take a hint that I would prefer he left me alone."

"Great, now I can sleep tonight," Jane said sarcastically, while inwardly feeling a huge sense of relief flood through her. "Goodnight."

"Jane for god sake, will you stand still?" Maura complained. "There's no need for you to go home. We're adults, we have disagreements, and we get over it."

"I think I should just go before either one of us says something we'll regret."

"Oh here we go, I wondered when you were going to bring that up," Maura ground out before turning her back on Jane and stomping into the kitchen.

Jane rolled her eyes and wondered what to do, before heading back the way she came and standing awkwardly as Maura made sure Jane knew she was ignoring her. When the door opened and Angela walked in, Jane knew her night from hell was complete.

"I heard shouting. You guys okay?" Angela asked, sensing the atmosphere the minute she walked in.

"Yes, we're getting along fabulously as usual," Maura said, her tone laced with blatant sarcasm that was meant for Jane.

"This is exactly why I was going home," Jane slapped her hand against her pant leg. "Everything I say gets twisted and then it all starts off over again."

"There was no possible way to twist what you said, Jane."

"Don't put words in my mouth. But yeah, for the record, I don't want to end up the way we did the day I shot your father, okay? I don't ever wanna go back there again, because it killed me the first time. The last thing I want is for you to hate me, because I'm beginning to wonder if you don't like me anymore," Jane said, her voice cracking as she decided she'd had enough for one night and abruptly turned and slammed the door behind her.

Angela felt bewildered and wondered what the hell was going on now. When she'd left them alone less than an hour ago, they were chatting away happily and laughing about something or other the way they usually did when they were in their own little world. When she heard a sob escape Maura's lips, she clucked sympathetically and grabbed some tissues before grabbing Maura and smothering her in a hug. Maura, usually not one for physical contact unless it was Jane to offer it, clung tightly to Angela's ribs and sobbed her heart out.

"There now baby, you let it all out," Angela soothed, wondering what on earth had gone wrong between them. "Janie didn't mean it, you know she never does. Her mouth was made for puttin' her feet in. I know she comes across as an insensitive pig, but she gets that from her father. Truth is, she's a softie on the inside, while Frank really was just an insensitive pig."

"How can she think that? How can she think I don't like her anymore? I need her, Angela," Maura cried, tears streaming from her eyes as they dripped down her face and onto Angela's shoulder.

"She doesn't think that sweetheart, she's tired and she's angry and she's over emotional. The same as you are. You're both stressed." At least that's all Angela hoped it was, because she could never see the two of them being any less than the very best of friends.

"She does this on purpose." Maura pouted tearfully. "She fights with me and then she leaves and she makes me miss her. She runs away and leaves me when I need her with me the most."

"Geez, I say you should enjoy the peace while it lasts," Angela joked, eliciting a snort of tearful laughter from Maura.

Suddenly, the front door opened again and slammed shut. Angela turned slightly to see a flurry of dark hair and long limbs that was usually indicative of her daughter on a mission. What kind of mission was anybody's guess but she stepped back and let go of Maura, who turned to look at Jane. She watched as both women gazed at each other from across the kitchen and silently willed her daughter to make the first move, because she knew Maura was vulnerable, and so much closer to breaking than Jane knew.

"Oh, Maura," Jane sighed, the words sounding pained as her eyes softened at seeing Maura's tears. "Baby, c'mere."

Maura didn't need to be told twice as Jane met her halfway across the kitchen and threw her arms around her and held onto her tightly. Angela gave her daughter the thumbs up and with a wink headed back towards the guest house to leave them to it. Ordinarily, she'd stick around and meddle for a while but she could sense this ran a whole lot deeper than just a few superficial arguments, but apparently neither of the women realised exactly what was going on. That was fine by Angela, knowing they'd stumble on it eventually, and for once she was happy to take a back seat and let Jane work her own mess out, but that didn't mean she was done. She'd wait and watch, and see.

"I'm sorry, I was being an asshole." Jane took full advantage of the fact that Maura was in a teary state and swung her up in her arms and carried her to the sofa.

"You've always been an asshole, but you can get used to that in a person," Maura laughed as Jane unceremoniously dropped her in a heap on the sofa and then lay down beside her. "I'm sorry, too. We were both acting like assholes."

"Doctor Isles, did you just say the word 'assholes'?" Jane brushed back honey-blonde hair and gently wiped Maura's tears away, before gently caressing the back of her neck the same way she always did when Maura was tired or upset.

"I did, and it's indicative of how low my standards have dropped while working around a bunch of hooligan cops who should know better." Maura's face crinkled in mock indignation and slid her fingers along into Jane's free hand, the one that wasn't currently stroking the sensitive skin at the nape of her neck that caused her toes to curl.

"You say that, but you're always the first to start cramming a cheeseburger into your cake-hole." Jane pulled Maura closer and placed a kiss on her forehead, closing her eyes at the sensation of Maura's warmth resting against her lips.

"A cheeseburger is one thing, but you make me eat hotdogs, and chilli fries and all those other things that make my butt look big."

"Your butt isn't big," Jane shook her head and felt Maura move even closer, finally feeling as if something was going right again when the blonde rested her forehead against hers and they were breathing the same air. "Your ass is tiny. I could probably fit it into the palms of my hands if I tried but I won't, because the mood you're in, you'd probably have me arrested for feeling you up in your residence."

"That sounded a lot kinkier than I think you were aiming for, Detective."

"Yeah well, I can be kinky. I just don't do it often."

"Jane, watching the Red Sox in just your panties and a t-shirt isn't kinky. It's guy-like behaviour."

"Well, I did always say that I would be the guy. Besides, you can't tell me you've never just collapsed onto the sofa in something comfortable but highly inappropriate if anybody else were in the room."

"Jane, I've seen you watch the Red Sox in just your panties and a t-shirt." Maura snorted with laughter, recalling the night she spent more time watching Jane's legs than the game. "I was staying the night at your place, if you recall."

"I did say inappropriate if anybody else were in the room. You're not just anybody, you're my awesome sidekick and best friend."

"That's true. I did once change into a beautifully deep red silk charmeuse robe I bought in New York and watched a documentary about Hanta Virus whilst I was alone." Maura grinned as she recalled what was rather a pleasant memory that she was keen to share with Jane, both in thought and in actuality but decided not to overload the brunette's system.

"And that was inappropriate?" Jane looked askance at her. "Oh yeah, I can totally see why. Wearing a bathrobe on your own sofa, how risqué of you."

"Well, it was very short, mid thigh length and I wasn't really wearing anything under it," Maura said, watching as the idea registered in Jane's mind and she reacted the same way she always did: became pink around the ears and began breathing a little faster.

"That isn't inappropriate," Jane husked, hoping to god her voice didn't betray how much of a turn on the picture in her head was. "That could be considered sexy if you really wanted it to be, but it isn't kinky."

"Could be if you consider the fact that it was the middle of summer and I left the robe open." Maura didn't add how her hands had roamed all over her body, taking the time to explore and tease herself until she was breathless and desperate for release.

Jane swallowed heavily and closed her eyes, the vision taking root in her head and refusing to leave. "Just...if you ever do that again and you have even the slightest idea that I'll be over at any point, please phone me to warn me."

"So I warn you, and then carry on lying there?" Maura asked, her tone all innocent when her intention was anything but. She much preferred teasing Jane than fighting with her.

_Holy shit_ thought Jane. "No, you warn me and if you're too lazy to get up and change, then you kind of go ahead and tie the belt on your robe and hope to god you don't flash me. On second thoughts, I don't want to see you in anything in this house that shows any skin. Tommy comes around whenever he likes and Frankie is never far behind."

"Why Detective, if I didn't know better, I'd swear you were attempting to protect my modesty." Maura batted her eyelashes at Jane demurely.

"No, just protecting your bare ass and bare... everything else, from Tommy's pervy eyes."

"What about your pervy eyes?"

"As your best friend, I put up with so many weird ass high society functions, fun filled facts and yoga sessions that I'm sure I earned the right to have you serve me beer naked if I want it." Jane's eyes remained closed, not wanting to give away the fact that she was desperately trying not to picture it.

Maura was about to respond when a sudden thought entered her mind. "We are still best friends, aren't we? I mean, we keep fighting and..."

Jane felt her heart ache at the tone in Maura's voice as it trailed off. It was so small and vulnerable that she could kick herself for even arguing with her in the first place. "Of course we are. We might fight, or disagree sometimes, but I really don't think there's anything wrong with our friendship, I mean we don't have any problems that we know of. I act like an ass but it doesn't mean I don't care for you. Maura, look, I'm not the best person for talking about feelings and stuff or saying what I mean deep down but nothing could ever change the way I feel about you. I... I'd never love you any less, okay?"

"Then what's with us lately?"

"I have no idea. Korsak thinks its stress."

"So does your mother."

"Maybe we need to find an outlet or something? Take up a hobby that we both like that keeps us occupied and not arguing with each other."

"That's not a bad idea." Maura glanced up at Jane, who still lay with her eyes closed, and gently traced the shape of her cheekbone with her fingertip. "I love you too, you know. Even if you are being a pain."

Jane chuckled. "Yeah, I kinda noticed. And I'm glad you do because I'd be lost without my best bud. I'm sorry about before, about what I said about you not liking me anymore, I say stupid stuff without thinking."

"That's okay. I say stupid stuff even when I've thought about it," Maura grinned, pleased when Jane clucked her tongue at her to refute it.

"Don't say that. Nothing you've ever said is stupid. It's just that the rest of the world hasn't caught up yet."

"Why don't I order dinner in? I'm too tired to cook. I was thinking maybe pizza?"

"See? You're a genius," Jane said, handing Maura her phone so that she could order the pizza and took the opportunity to snuggle into her and place a gentle kiss against her cheek, before closing her eyes and settling down to wait for dinner.

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**I hope you liked the first chapter. As always, I'd really appreciate it if you sent me a review, but if not, I'd still like to thank you very much for reading and I hope you'll stick around for the next part :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'd just like to say a huge thank you to Annie, WildfireSunset, soulcop83, CCJLFAN1, JUJUChick16, Nightwing 509, Guest, RizzyandIzzy, Vez87, Furyism and to everyone else who took the time to favourite or follow this story. The response has been overwhelming and you've all been very kind. I really appreciate the support, it makes writing so much more fun :)  
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**Well, it's time to post Chapter 2 and although I can't promise the next update will be as quick as this one, I can say I'm working on it as we speak. Any and all mistakes are mine, so if you spot one, you know whose fault it is lol. I'll leave you in peace to read now but thanks once again, and I hope you enjoy this chapter :)  
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**Chapter 2**

_Friday, December 21st_

Angela struggled to open the front door to Maura's house with one hand as she balanced a box and several shopping bags with the other as she gripped the door handle. She stopped momentarily when she heard raised voices, both of which she instantly recognised and wished she didn't as the sudden urge to turn right around and leave again washed over her. Instead, she rolled her eyes and slammed the door behind her a little too loudly, wondering when both Jane and Maura were going to grow up and behave themselves. Shuffling across the room with the heavy bags, she saw Jane leaning against the counter mutinously whilst Maura stomped around the kitchen like a woman possessed, flitting between the fridge and the coffee machine.

Angela heaved the bags onto the counter and with a sigh, shrugged her coat off and waited for both women to acknowledge her presence. When neither one did, she began unpacking bags loudly, slamming boxes, cans and jars onto Maura's breakfast bar with an increasing sense of anger. Three days before Christmas and all these two could do was argue with each other? After emptying the bags, she rolled her sleeves up, folded her arms and then glared at them both. Clearly, the fact that they'd made up after their argument last night had already been forgotten.

"What in the world is going on with you two now?" Angela glanced between them, but neither would meet her eye. "Maura, what's going on?"

Maura cursed internally, as her eyes slipped shut for a second. Angela had gone straight for the throat, knowing that she couldn't lie. "Jane and I are engaged in having another disagreement."

"A disagreement?" Jane scoffed. "You should have heard her twenty minutes ago, sounded more like World War Three."

"Me?" Maura whirled around, feeling her temper go up a notch, even though she knew this argument if not entirely, was mostly, her fault. "You're the one with your panties in a glob."

"Panties in a wad, Maura!" Jane rolled her eyes and shuffled toward the fridge to grab a beer. She nudged the door shut with one arm while she popped the top off and took a good slug of the icy cold liquid. "Jesus, every time it's the same. It's always my fault."

"It usually is, Jane," Angela replied as Jane glared at her. "What are you fighting about now, Maura?"

"We had a fight about Tommy." Maura studiously avoided Jane's death inducing glare, preferring to suffer her best friend's wrath than an uncomfortable case of hives with the possibility of passing out.

Angela groaned out loud and slapped a hand against her hip. "What has he done now?"

"Oh, I'll tell you what he's done now," Jane snapped, and then downed the rest of her beer before tossing the bottle loudly into the recycling. "The idiot only goes and borrows Maura's new car and backs it into a fucking lamppost! She's defending him and because I don't quite agree that he's innocent of any wrongdoing, I'm the one in the wrong. But it was a brand new freakin' car and he's trashed it!"

"Oh my god," Angela's hand flew to her chest. "What in the hell was he thinking?"

"We know what he was thinking, ma. He was thinking he was King Dick in a brand new Mercedes and decides to show off and all but totals the damn thing. But we kinda expected that, right? What I didn't expect was that Maura would be stupid enough to lend it to him in the first damn place!"

Angela shook her head and suddenly felt like killing him. Tommy wouldn't be able to repair the damage to the car on his wages even if he didn't eat for the next two years. She really needed to have a talk with that boy; he needed to start showing some responsibility. Angela felt a headache coming on, and wondered why having three kids was more hard work now that they were adults than it had been when they were younger. All three of them needed a kick up ass. Well, maybe not Frankie, he had always been quieter than the other two and at the moment, he hadn't done anything wrong that Angela knew about but knowing her kids, there was always bound to be something she wasn't party to.

"And you know the worst part? My so-called best friend didn't bother to tell me about it!" Jane set about pacing as she threw her hands up in the air in a typically Italian gesture of annoyance. "I had to hear it from Tommy, who was too chicken-shit to do anything but tell me over the phone because he knew it was only a matter of time before I'd find out and kick his ass from here to Hawaii and back."

"I didn't tell you because I knew you'd react like this!" Maura growled, sending Jane am uncharacteristically stern look that would have most people on their knees and begging for forgiveness.

"Yeah, 'cause Tommy can never do any wrong, huh? Why are you so keen to defend him all the time? You know its people making allowances for his behaviour that got him in trouble in the first place." Jane was disgusted with herself for blaming everything on Maura, when really speaking this was all on Tommy but her annoyance at any interaction Maura had with her youngest brother was well documented.

Maura mirrored Jane's earlier gesture, throwing her hands in the air and feeling the urge to whip Jane across the butt with a dish towel to knock some sense into her. The thought sent a shiver down her spine, and she realised it was typical of her lately to feel a sudden stab of arousal for Jane when her mind should otherwise have been occupied. "It isn't about him doing right or wrong, Jane. But you never seem to want to give him a fair hearing."

"That's because I know the little fucker too well!" Jane bellowed as she leaned against the counter and folded her arms. "I've known him since the day he was born and believe me, even if there's no way he can possibly screw up, he'll find one."

"Jane's right," Angela conceded with a nod. "I'm his mother, and he's my baby, but Tommy and screwing up is like eating beans and getting gas, it's inevitable. He takes after his father for that."

Jane raised an eyebrow at her mother's interesting take on Tommy's propensity for trouble, but was grateful for the support all the same.

"That doesn't mean we should stop trying. He's trying to be a good father to TJ, and he's trying to work things out with Lydia. They like each other and they could have a future together if he can get himself sorted and into a position where he can support them both." Maura was tired of having to try and make her point. "He borrowed my car because he wanted to take them shopping for Christmas gifts."

"And he couldn't ask me to borrow my heap of rust, or take the T like everybody else?" Jane asked, with a look that said 'really?'

"Oh, come on, Jane. Haven't you ever wanted to impress somebody you love?" Maura asked softly, turning hazel eyes on Jane in a way that she knew would usually calm Jane down.

Jane softened slightly, but still had a point to make and she was damn well going to make it. "You remember that restaurant I took you to for your 32nd birthday a couple years back?"

Maura nodded, the memory still fresh in her mind. "I'll never forget it."

"It wasn't the most exclusive restaurant on earth, nor was it the most expensive. I agonised for weeks about whether I should take you there or not, but at the time, it was all I could afford. I wanted it to be a perfect night for you, and I wanted to get everything just right. Afterward, when I brought you home, you thanked me and told me what a wonderful time you'd had. That you'd enjoyed being able to have a meal and a conversation with me that wasn't interrupted by work for once and it had been even more special to you because it had been your birthday and all you had really wanted for your birthday was to spend time with me." Jane swallowed heavily, feeling her pulse quicken as nervousness tugged at her. She wasn't used to talking about her feelings so readily. "That was when it hit me. The night had nothing to do with the location, or the food, or how much money I spent. It was about being there for you, with you, on your birthday because we're best friends and we care for each other. The fact that I booked a table for dinner and took care of you for the evening was enough to impress you and I learnt my lesson that night. I learnt the one thing you'd been trying to tell me all along, especially when you knew that having so much money got under my skin because I felt like I wasn't good enough for you, I learnt that money isn't worth shit if you've nobody to care about you. If you're not part of a family, then you're completely alone and no amount of cash will ever make up for that. I don't think I ever truly understood that until I saw how happy you were to be with me, simply because I am me. Tommy doesn't need some flashy car to impress Lydia; loving her and showing her he cares should be enough. It was for us."

Both Maura and Angela looked at Jane and were both taken aback. It was perhaps the longest speech either of them had ever heard her give, and certainly the most passionate. The two women felt tears threatening, knowing that Jane could certainly pick her moment to say something sweet that would hit a person right where it was needed.

"Oh, Jane," Maura said breathlessly, her heart thumping a mile a minute at the moving words that Jane had uttered. "That was really very sweet."

"Oh gross. And just because I said something you think was nice, doesn't mean to say I'm still talking to you," Jane pointed her finger at Maura and headed towards the front door. "Because I'm not talking to you."

"Nothing new there, then," Maura said with some amusement, knowing that Jane had already forgiven her, just like she had forgiven Jane the previous day, but her friend was too pigheaded to admit it yet.

"It will give you chance to work on hating me," Jane said sarcastically with a slight smile, before slamming the front door behind her for the second time in as many days.

Maura shook her head and crossed the kitchen to the fridge, retrieving a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses. She wasn't worried, she knew Jane would be back when she'd had enough time to walk off her frustration, and set about getting the corkscrew and pouring a glass of wine for her and Angela. The women sipped happily at their drinks as they worked in unison to put groceries away and make a start on planning the Christmas menus. Neither had decided on what they'd like to cook yet, and were in the process of discussing it when Jane walked back in the door, and closed it none too gently behind her again.

"You keep closing the door like that, it's going to come off its hinges," Maura said with a frown, trying not to smile when Jane scowled at her.

"You complain about a front door, but not a Mercedes? Jesus." Jane managed to roll her eyes in such a way that she knew it would immediately irritate the blonde.

"We already talked about that. The damage isn't as bad as it looks. A replacement bumper, a re-spray across the rear, and new a taillight and it will be fine." Maura retrieved another glass from the cupboard and poured some wine for Jane. "You were gone less than fifteen minutes, was that even long enough for you to stomp to the end of the street?"

Angela snorted with laughter and began putting together a platter of antipasti for them to nibble on as they drank. She pulled olives, prosciutto, salami, mozzarella and tomatoes from the fridge and began arranging them on a plate, watching from the corner of her eye as Jane shuffled around the kitchen getting closer to Maura with each series of movements. It was quite sweet really, knowing that Maura was doing exactly the same thing as she too pottered around the kitchen not engaged in any particular activity. Angela wondered when they were going to quit fighting and direct the passion they had for each other into more interesting pursuits than fighting.

Angela had spent most of the previous evening pondering on why they had never done anything about their obvious feelings for each other. Angela could remember when she herself had been a young woman and had fallen in love. Frank had taken to visiting her brother more often, hanging around the house more than he ever had and would take every opportunity he could just to talk to her. She knew it had taken him months to work up the courage to ask her out, and it had taken weeks for her to find the courage to accept. They'd dated for what had seemed like a lifetime before Frank had proposed, but she'd spent many a night crying into her pillow and wondering why he hadn't already asked her. Eventually, she had realised that love would follow its own path, and when all of the pieces of the puzzle were neatly in place, everything would come together and work out the way it should.

Angela smiled when she realised that was exactly what was happening here. Their friendship had grown into love, a love so natural that it had taken them a while to realise they had already been practically dating as it was. They wanted each other, that much was obvious, even to them. They just hadn't gotten around to doing anything about it yet, because the timing hadn't been right. And it would never be right if they spent all of their waking hours arguing instead of being together. Rolling her eyes with a soft sigh, she carried the plate to the breakfast bar and was tempted to give them both a kick up the rear end to get them to see sense.

"I had plenty of time to stomp, thank you very much," Jane said, feeling herself becoming inexplicably annoyed again and knew that if they ever turned getting pissed off into an Olympic sport she could compete for America. Getting irritated was easy enough in itself without Maura deliberately provoking her. Jane knew she was often guilty of the same offence, but she was feeling entirely too self-righteous about it at that moment to concede the point.

"Are you sure? You wouldn't just like to stomp around my kitchen for five minutes to get it out of your system?" Maura fought the urge to laugh at the look of indignation on her best friend's face.

"Maura Isles! If you persist in pissing me off, you'll find that Gucci-clad ass of yours in lockup for the night. Don't think I won't arrest you, because if you think that, you don't know me very well." Jane took the opportunity to grab a handful of salami and shovelled it into her mouth while there was a lull in the proceedings.

Maura was taken aback by the tone of Jane's voice, and suddenly found herself bristling. "What on earth is wrong with you now? How many times a day do you make fun of me? I try to take it in good humour even though I don't always know what you're referring to half the time, but the moment I try to tease you back, you're growling like a rabid dog!"

"She used to do that when she was a baby," Angela muttered with a shrug. "I guess some things you never grow out of."

"Excuse me? You're entirely calm and serene? My ass! You went off the freakin' deep end last week when you found that blow-up doll in the shower. It was meant to be a joke but you went nuts." Jane tried not to laugh when she thought back to having borrowed one of the dolls from the evidence lockup after they had arrested a sex shop owner for murder and confiscated the contents of his car. "Sheesh, some people have no sense of humour."

"I was naked! I was busy taking a shower at the time you decided it would be great fun to shove your head and a sex doll through my shower door to ask if I wanted to meet your new buddy!" Maura squeaked and threw her hands up in the air. "What did you expect me to do? Tell you to go ahead and get naked, and ask you and your inflatable friend for a threesome?"

Angela coughed to stop herself from laughing as she caught Maura's raised eyebrow over the rim of her wineglass.

"You should've seen it, ma," Jane giggled suddenly. "I've never thought Maura was capable of violence but when I took a picture of her on my cell phone, I thought she was going to chew straight through my legs. Gee, I hope I never lose my phone, because whoever finds it will be the proud owner of one epic photograph."

"I thought you deleted that!" Maura blushed bright red. "You promised me."

"I did promise you. I just didn't say when I was going to delete it." Jane grinned again, knowing that payback was a bitch. It would teach Maura not to do stupid stuff like lend Tommy a brand new car.

Not that the picture was actually on her phone. She had deleted it as promised, but she'd sure as hell memorised it beforehand.

"So not being content with invading my privacy at a time when I'm at my most vulnerable, you take photographic proof and then taunt me with it? What are you going to do for an encore? Hide in my closet and hope to get a shot of me touching myself?"

At this, Angela really did begin coughing, right around the same time that Jane almost swallowed her own tongue.

"Jesus!" Jane exhaled loudly. "What is it with you and sex? Why do you always go straight to sex?"

"Masturbation is not sex. Sexual intercourse is usually between two people."

"You can have two people doing it at the same time." Jane countered

"Unless they are engaged in mutual masturbation which is what I think you're referring to, then masturbation is still a solo event, no matter how many people are watching and/or participating in a masturbation session of their own in the same locus," Maura said, watching with satisfaction as Jane's face became fire truck red this time.

"I'm going to call the Guinness Book of Records and tell them that Doctor Maura Isles just broke the record for the most amount of times the word 'masturbation' was mentioned in a single sentence." Jane shook her head and took a seat across from Maura, trying to ignore the shit-eating grin on her friend's face.

"Sounds rather more like you were aiming for me to break the record of most multiple orgasms in one night right in front of your camera," Maura said casually, knowing that the vein throbbing in Jane's forehead meant that her comment had hit the mark.

Jane meanwhile concentrated on remembering to breathe. It was bad enough that they were having this kind of passive-aggressive fight as it was, but worse that it was in front of her mother who by the look of her was enjoying every single minute of it. Jane's desire to kill Tommy had come back tenfold, and when she had, she was going to bury Maura's shoe collection along with him.

"Have you always been this much of a pain in the ass or did you manage to hide it until you thought it was safe to come crashing out of your 'pain in the ass closet'?"

"Don't be a hater just because you want to come crashing out of the closet, too," Maura shot back as Angela bit down on her fist to stop from laughing.

"Oh and what closet would that be?" Jane folded her arms and narrowed her eyes.

She'd heard all the jokes before, been told many times that she was so far back in the closet that she was in Narnia, but she'd never expected for Maura to fight dirty and start in on the gay jokes. If Maura so much as mentioned the word lesbian, it was on. She'd mention the word 'Target' and see how long it would take for Maura to keel over in trying to refute that she didn't own a single piece of clothing from that store, and they both knew that was a lie. Granted, the items had been bought for use at the worst crime scenes when wearing Maura's regular clothing would be impossible, but Jane knew she could still earn points with it.

"Mine, if you play your cards right." Maura winked at her and blew her a kiss, knowing she'd gained the upper hand. It was quiet remarkable really, considering that when they'd first met she wouldn't have had a clue what to say or do and now she was really rather good at it. "I might even let you take pictures."

"Straight back to the innuendo. If I didn't know any better..." Jane started out but was interrupted by Angela.

"All right that's enough!" the older woman held her hand up and had to fight hard to keep the grin from her face at watching their facial expressions regress into those of two teenage girls. "The two of you have spent so much time arguing lately that all you seem to do is fight. This is about more than Tommy borrowing Maura's car, and it's about more than you keeping it a secret from Jane. It's just an excuse, because there's a bigger issue here and I think you should sort it out in time for Christmas. It's supposed to be a happy time of year, a peaceful time of year. And I want you two to quit behaving like children and go back to being adults."

"She started it," Jane said sulkily.

"You started it." Maura glared.

"And I'm gonna finish it," Angela said, putting her hands on her hips. It was time to bring out the big guns because she'd had as much as she could stand. "I really didn't wanna do this, but I'm going to anyway. You got two choices: you either quit being friends before this gets out of hand and we know that isn't ever going to be a viable option... or you find a better way to work it out. We all know the sexual tension between you two is what's causing it anyway. You can't just have sex like any normal people who are attracted to each other. No, you gotta start fightin' and givin' me earache. Well, I'm warning you, I want this tension resolved in the next 24 hours, because if it's not then you can both find somewhere else for Christmas."

Jane was completely flabbergasted almost, but not quite, to the point of silence. "But ma, this is Maura's house."

"Tough. She can take her butt off somewhere else until she's done as she's told. Same goes for you."

Maura's lips flapped as if she were about to speak, but then she went right back to looking shell-shocked again. Angela's latest revelation was on the list of things she never thought she'd hear the Rizzoli matriarch say. Maura couldn't be sure that she'd even heard the woman correctly, at least not until she looked at Jane who sat gripping the sides of her stool for stability as Jane looked askance at her mother.

"We bicker like most people, ma, doesn't mean there's anything wrong," said Jane, still trying to process exactly what her mother had said but knowing she couldn't refute it because doing so would be denying she loved Maura and she would never be capable of that.

"It's gotta stop. You'll only ever solve this thing between you by working your tension off through sex," Angela delivered the coup de grace as Jane quit breathing and Maura suddenly looked like a bunny caught in some very large headlights. "Just do me a favour and warn me beforehand, huh? There's no way I want to walk in on you and Maura gettin' romantic on the dining table with your underwear hanging from the light fittings. Okay? Right, you two, enjoy the rest of your evening." She leant forward to kiss them both on the cheek. "Oh and keep the noise down. No loud orgasms because I'm planning on relaxing with Netflix tonight. See you later girls, have fun!"

As Angela closed the door behind her and headed toward the guesthouse, Jane and Maura looked at each other as if trying to actually work out whether it had really happened or whether they'd somehow been part of a weird dream at exactly the same time. Maura knew that was scientifically impossible so was forced to conclude that Angela really had just ordered them to sleep together. Didn't parents usually take the opposite approach? Or was Maura missing some other important social clue she knew nothing about. One thing was for sure, nothing could confuse her faster than a Rizzoli. But then again, Jane was looking a bit flustered too, so maybe Maura hadn't missed anything at all. Maybe Angela really was as insane as Jane had always claimed.

"She didn't, did she?" Jane looked aghast. "I mean she..."

"Yes." Maura nodded. "She did."

"Oh my god, my mother just told us to have sex!" Jane whined, fumbling for her wine glass.

"Ma told you to do what?!" Frankie suddenly said, feeling the blood drain from his face at the words. He'd only just stepped in the door, hadn't even closed it yet and already he was confronted with a sentence that was enough to make his hair curl.

"Pales in comparison to Tommy backing Maura's new Mercedes into a lamppost," Jane muttered as she downed the rest of her wine, topping up her glass along with Maura's as Maura fetched Frankie a beer.

"He did what?!" Frankie felt the colour coming back into his face as his blood pressure began rising up the scale. "Goddamn it! What is it with this family?"

"I don't know, Frankie. I often ask myself the same question," Jane said with a groan, and rested her head on Maura's breakfast bar, wondering how on earth she'd managed to get stuck with a bat-shit crazier version of the Brady Bunch. Or a best friend that was making her underwear vibrate so fast that her pants were beginning to exercise their own gravitational pull.

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**As always, reviews are hugely appreciated. I'd really love to know if you liked it. Thanks for reading! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Rizzoli and Isles is the property of Tess Gerritsen, Janet Tamero and TNT. I write for entertainment purposes, and absolutely no copyright infringement is intended.  
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**A/N: Hello! I'm back again with Chapter 3, albeit much later than I should have been. In my defence, I've had unexpected houseguests and I was loopy enough on pain medication for my broken ankle as it was without being driven nuts by relatives as well lol. You'll understand more when you read this chapter, I just couldn't resist. I hope to at least get one more chapter up before Christmas, possibly two if the editing goes well. Please don't take that as concrete, but I'll do my very best. Either way, the story will get finished so don't worry about that :)  
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**A big thank you goes out to everyone who reviewed the last two chapters, you've all been incredibly supportive and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart :)**

**Before we get started, I just want to mention that this chapter is long, but there's a little bit of everything in it so hopefully you'll all like it. And if anybody gets confused, I haven't messed up the date, this is a continuation of the same night on which the last chapter took place. Okay, I'll shut up rambling now lol.  
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**I hope you enjoy the chapter :)  
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**Chapter 3**

_Friday, December 21st_

Jane yawned widely as she followed Maura into the bedroom and unclipped her gun from her belt. Dropping the magazine, she cleared the chamber and placed both items in separate drawers. Her shield went onto the nightstand beside her watch, her cell phone and her wallet. As she sat down on her side of the bed to remove her boots, she heard Maura humming in her vast closet and suddenly, all felt right with the world. It was all she'd ever really wanted, and their nightly routine had become such a huge part of her life, just like Maura, that she felt a sudden panicked stabbing in her chest at the thought of ever losing her.

Visions of every guy Maura had ever dated flipped through her mind in a slideshow that refused to stop, even when she desperately willed it to. Her mind kept coming back to Ian, wondering if he'd ever come back one day and realise exactly what he'd lost before deciding he wanted to stick around after all. The thought hit Jane deep in the pit of her stomach and made her realise exactly what she was facing. She knew Maura loved her, she had known for a while, and although Maura had been patient with her, she wouldn't or shouldn't wait forever and the thought of losing her to somebody else, when the chance she never thought she would get was staring her right in the face, was killing her. It was time to do something before she lost the woman she loved. Her mother, for once, had been completely right.

She stripped her clothes off, tossing them into the hamper as she strode into the bathroom to grab the first shower, knowing that Maura would be a while yet in choosing her outfit and shoes for the next day. As she turned the water on and stood back to adjust the controls, Maura appeared in the open doorway holding two dresses up against herself, eyebrow raised in question. One was a beige colour in a soft, silky material by a designer that Jane couldn't name if she tried, or a deep teal coloured dress that looked form fitting and tantalisingly low cut. She knew she was expected to choose and she already knew which one she would pick.

"Definitely teal. I love that colour on you, it really suits you. Brings out the colour of your eyes."

Maura beamed. "Thank you for the compliment, it was very dashing of you."

Jane rolled her eyes with a grin and began stripping off her underwear as Maura disappeared back into the closet. As she stepped under the hot spray, she sighed and rolled her neck to allow the stresses of the day to be soothed away by the pulsing of the water.

"What's on the agenda for tomorrow?" Maura asked as she entered the bathroom again and reached for her toothbrush before she squirted toothpaste on it.

Jane poured shower gel into her palm and began her routine. "I need to take a look over the Leah Williams case files, see if anything else pops up. Frost is set to interview her boyfriend in the morning, but I'm not convinced he's involved in it. I also need to work on finding out what the deal is with Chad Jefferson. Something is bugging me, I can't put my finger on it, but he's definitely hiding something. What about you?"

"I need to take a look at Leah's body again. During the autopsy, I noticed there was a mark on her thigh but it was very faint. Injuries will usually develop over several days, so I'm going to examine her again. I also have a case to autopsy in the morning for Detective Crowe, but that shouldn't take very long. If I get a chance, I'll look over the Jefferson case again, just to make doubly sure that I haven't missed anything."

"I doubt you've missed anything," Jane said as she turned in the shower to rinse herself off. "But thank you for going the extra mile on it, I really appreciate it."

"I know you do, and you're welcome." Maura smiled and realised she'd been holding her toothbrush and staring into space as she talked to Jane. "Are you still coming with me to pick up my parents from the airport tomorrow?"

"Definitely, unless I catch another case in the meantime. What time are they due in?"

"3pm," Maura said around a mouthful of toothpaste. "I should have my schedule cleared enough by then that I can take off for the rest of the day."

"I'll try my best to get home sometime before midnight, but I make no promises on that score."

Maura couldn't help smiling when Jane used the word 'home' in conjunction with her house, and her heart beat just a little faster at knowing she'd get to spend another night with Jane, even if they spent most of their nights together these days. It was all Maura had ever really wanted, the chance to be part of a real family and be with somebody she loved.

"I'll wait up for you like I usually do," Maura smiled at the thought of being tucked up in bed, waiting to be joined by Jane who would snuggle up to her the minute she crawled into bed after a long day at work.

"Thanks honey. Oh, before I forget," Jane stepped out of the shower and reached for her towel, just as Maura shed her clothes and climbed in. "If I can't make it, I'll get Frankie to go with you. If your parents are anything like you, they'll pack for every eventuality and you'll need help with the suitcases."

"Speaking of Frankie. You know, I've never seen a man go quite that purple in the face before without needing oxygen," Maura chuckled over the noise of the shower as she recalled the colour of Frankie's face as he'd laughed himself stupid after she and Jane had told him about Angela's antics earlier on that night.

Jane laughed in response as she wet her toothbrush under the faucet and applied toothpaste. "If you think that's bad, you should've been around when ma was discussing sex with Nonna Rizzoli."

"She didn't, did she?" Maura poured shampoo into the palm of her hand and began lathering it into her hair.

"She certainly did. I thought Pop was gonna have a stroke on the spot, especially when they got onto the subject of vibrators and how Carla Talluci had several. Then she set about telling my Nonna how Carla had bought a set of these vibrating love egg things, and wanted to try them out in public 'cause a friend of hers said it gave her an extra thrill. She then proceeded to tell my Nonna that after three noisy orgasms on the T, a paramedic crew who thought she was having a heart attack, and the threat of being arrested for public indecency when the cops found out she wasn't having a heart attack, that the crazy witch only went out and bought another set to give to my mother for her birthday," Jane smiled at the memory of her father exiting the house as if his ass was on fire, dragging her, Tommy and Frankie with him before she could actually find out what happened next. "I don't know if she ever got 'em but I know my Pop was twitchy around every gift she opened for a few years."

Maura practically cried with laughter as she leaned back against the shower wall, still only halfway through washing the shampoo out of her hair. "Knowing your mother, that doesn't surprise me."

Jane rinsed out her mouth into the basin before shaking her toothbrush free of water and placing it back in the cup. Unwrapping the towel from around her body, she reached for her underwear, slipping it on, followed by her sleep shorts.

"Ma has said and done all kinds of crazy shit over the years. Why do you think I don't talk about sex? I was mortified by more than half the stuff I heard as a teenager. My mother was avidly discussing sex long before Doctor Ruth showed up. I could never understand how somebody who claimed to be a good catholic could bring herself to talk so graphically about stuff like that. I mean, I never once claimed to be a good catholic, and yet, the minute I think of anything remotely sexy, I expect a nun to pop up and hit me between the eyes with a ruler. Once ma gets together with my Aunties, there's no stopping her. Never mind Fifty Shades of Gray, it's more like the whole damn paint chart."

Maura snickered and turned off the shower, opening the door and reaching for her towel just as Jane was about slip her t-shirt on. "Where did you get that bruise?"

Jane paused, uncaring that she was still topless and turned to Maura. "Which one?"

Maura began wrapping her towel around her body and then pointed to Jane's side. "That one on your ribs. It looks quite recent, what happened?"

Jane turned toward the mirror and marvelled at how she could be half naked in front of Maura and not be afraid of it. Nor did Maura standing beside her in nothing but a towel faze her anymore either. At one point, Jane wouldn't have allowed Maura, or anyone else, within a hundred feet of her when she was naked unless there were at least three layers of clothing and a locked door between them. Maura on the other hand, had never been shy about being naked around Jane, had never suffered the same self-consciousness as her friend but Jane knew that Maura didn't routinely trust just anybody around her when she was naked, and she had begun to realise over time that maybe she could trust Maura not to judge her body after all. Now, it wasn't unusual for them to undress in front of each other or shower while the other one was in the bathroom. They had a system: if the door was open, they were free to enter and move about at their own leisure, if the door was closed then privacy, and time and space was required. Like everything else in their relationship, it just was, and had become so much a part of the routine that neither of them had ever noticed. But Jane knew it was no longer enough, for either of them.

"I must've gotten it when arresting Daniel McNamara on Wednesday. He wouldn't keep still and he pushed me into the car as I was trying to restrain him."

Maura reached out gently and traced the bruise with a fingertip, watching as Jane closed her eyes and shivered slightly at the touch. A smile graced Maura's lips at the effect her touch had on Jane, and she placed the palm of her hand fully against the purple bruise. "Here, let me put some ointment on for you. It will bring the bruise out properly and take away the soreness."

Jane allowed Maura to fetch the ointment and rub it into her skin, with a touch so gentle that only for the fact she was watching Maura's every move in the mirror, she might not otherwise have felt it. When Maura was done, she touched her lips to Jane's right shoulder blade and tenderly left a kiss against the skin, feeling, rather than seeing the reaction she was causing in her best friend. As she moved away to return the ointment to the medicine cabinet, she saw a now fully clothed Jane come up behind her and reach for her shoulders, her long fingers slowly beginning to work the tension from her muscles.

"Thank you," Jane all but whispered, knowing she was thanking Maura for more than just the bruise cream.

It was thanks for forgiving her for being so cranky and short with her over the last few weeks. It was thanks for caring as much about her as she did, and it was also thanks for being so patient with her, for still wanting her as much as she did even though Jane hadn't always made it easy for her.

"Mmm, you're welcome," Maura breathed out, not caring how low her voice had become, or just how husky the edges of it were, being unapologetic for enjoying the touch of the woman she loved. "That feels so good."

"You're very tense," Jane said with a wicked grin, watching as a smile curled lazily around Maura's lips in the mirror, her eyes still closed.

"I wonder whose fault that is." It wasn't a question, the statement being wholly based in fact; the fact being that she'd been suffering from rampant sexual frustration for months and Jane was entirely the cause of it.

"This time around, it's my mother," Jane said as they both laughed, and she continued to knead the muscles in Maura's neck. "I thought I was fine with the situation, until Ma opened her mouth and made me realise why we'd been arguing in the first place. The minute she said it, I started feeling crazy. I don't know if that's because of my reaction to you, or whether there's just some inbuilt biological function that makes me go nuts when I just have to concede the point that perhaps Ma is right, no matter how much that goes against the grain, or how self-righteously obnoxious she's going to be about it when I'm forced to admit it."

"So, you were fine about arguing with me then?" Maura teased, the tension of the last few weeks leaving her body in a rush, leaving her with muscles that felt as if they were made of warm honey. "Mmmm that thing you're doing with your hand there, keep doing it. It feels so good."

"I wasn't fine arguing with you," Jane said, leaning down to press her lips against the back of Maura's neck. "I hated every minute of it. I just didn't know why I was doing it. Does that feel better?"

"Much, thank you," Maura opened her eyes, now heavily lidded as they shined a deeper shade of green than the warm hazel they usually were.

"You're very welcome, Doctor Isles," Jane replied, as she reached around Maura and pulled her closer, the bare skin of her shoulders feeling wonderful underneath her hands. "Why don't you dry your hair, while I make you some tea?"

"You're spoiling me tonight," Maura shivered slightly as a warm breath ghosted across her neck, Jane's hand lightly stroking the freckled skin of her chest just below her collarbone in a way that was wholly arousing and so sweetly comforting at the same time.

"I want to spoil you every night." Jane tightened her hold on Maura and placed another gentle kiss against her neck. "I won't be long. When I get back, I'd like to talk to you."

"You're talking to me now," Maura's eyes flashed again, teasing just as she had done several moments before.

"That can soon be rectified, and next time, I might not speak to you for a week, Maura," Jane said, suddenly lifting a giggling Maura off her feet as she placed a noisy kiss against her chest. Then, as she put her down, she cheekily slapped Maura's rear end and winked at her before leaving the room.

* * *

"Are you okay?" Jane asked with concern, looking up from her book as she noticed that Maura was limping slightly as she crossed the room to get into bed.

"Muscles keep cramping out in my leg. I really need to stretch them out properly, give them a good workout." Maura climbed into bed in a blue silk nightdress that was sleeveless and dipped low in the front, causing Jane's heartbeat to ratchet up a notch when she got a good look at toned thighs as Maura kneeled on the bed to climb into it. "I should probably run a few miles in the morning."

"Lie back, and let me help with that," Jane said, crawling to the foot of the bed and getting comfortable before she took Maura's right leg in her hands.

Maura luxuriated in the feeling of silk against her body while Jane's hands touched the soft, smooth skin of her leg. "You really do have magic hands."

Jane grinned, knowing that Maura might soon appreciate her magic hands elsewhere. "I spent so much time with the school physio after being injured, that if he hadn't been gay, people might have started believing we were having an affair."

Maura shook her head with a laugh and reached for her tea, sipping in contentment as Jane kneaded her muscles and she heard a sudden clicking against the windows. "Sounds like hail."

"They did say the weather was going to turn bad for the holidays. Supposed to turn to snow by lunchtime tomorrow, apparently."

"Doesn't look like I'll get my run in the morning."

Jane laughed and worked her hands down Maura's calf muscle towards her foot to massage it. "That's because you can't be bothered getting your ass out of bed. I find it funny that for someone who appears to be so chirpy in the mornings, that you actually hate getting up early. And to think the amount of times you've kicked me out of bed and made me do something healthy when we could have stayed where we were and had much more fun."

"I kicked you out of bed so we didn't," Maura said with a knowing smile, pleased when Jane responded to it with a smile of her own.

"Yeah, I guess that was logical. Did I mention I hate it when you're logical?"

Maura chuckled throatily and took another sip of her tea before returning the cup to the nightstand. "You'd have run a mile back then, and I probably would have too."

"You're right. It seemed to matter back then that we didn't step over the line. I don't even know where the line is anymore and I wouldn't give a fuck if I sprinted over it, never mind crossed it."

Maura was taken aback that Jane was talking quite so readily, especially about this. "Was this what you wanted to talk to me about?"

Jane nodded and glanced up at her quickly with dark eyes as she massaged Maura's instep, marvelling at the small but powerful muscles. "I never realised you had such strong legs. I can feel how powerful the muscles are in your feet just by touching them. Must be wearing those fifty inch heels that does it. It must be painful, though."

Maura nodded as she appreciated the warm tingling sensation that washed over her. "Sometimes, it can be, especially after a long day. But if you get a comfortable pair of heels, then you're fine."

"Does wonders for your legs though, not to mention your ass." Jane winked at the blonde, who smiled lasciviously at her from where she lay back against the pillows, looking so beautiful that Jane knew that even capturing the moment with a camera would never fully do her justice. "I'm sorry."

"What for?" Maura lifted her head from the pillow and looked anxiously at Jane, knowing that whenever Jane started apologising, there was usually something she was torturing herself for.

"For not being brave enough to do this sooner. A while ago, it mattered that I kept my distance. I was scared I'd lose my best friend, scared of what everyone would think when they found out how I felt about you. And I never truly believed you felt the same. I spent so long looking at the reasons that you could never feel something for me, that I missed all of the reasons why you did."

"So you've always known how I felt?"

"I don't think I've always known, I was probably too self-absorbed in worrying about how I felt to notice that you felt anything beyond friendship for me at all," Jane said honestly, knowing that at times, she could be oblivious to everything around her if her mind was on other things. "But I've known for a while, I've known for sure since we got close again after I shot Paddy. I suspected a few times over the years that maybe you felt more for me, but I told myself it was wishful thinking, that you'd never had a best friend before and you're a very affectionate person by nature when somebody gets to know you. I thought most times I was imagining it, until that night I had to cut into your leg and we got close again. That was when I realised how you felt, you still trusted me so much, I could see how you felt about me in your eyes, and a lot of things began making sense."

Maura shook her head with a smile. "You definitely weren't imagining it, but back then, I was busy trying to hide it. After Paddy and all of the fallout, I realised I missed you so much that I couldn't hide my feelings for you anymore and nor did I really want to. I realised how you felt about me the same night, when you saved my leg even though you were terrified. You stood guard over me and held me, and I knew then just how deeply your feelings ran. You still wanted to protect me, even after we hurt each other."

"Why didn't you say something?" Jane's tone was curious, and not in the slightest bit accusatory.

"The same reason you didn't say anything. We had to learn to be friends again, to get back to where we were before we could start moving forward. It took time, our friendship wasn't repaired overnight and it took us a little while to admit we still trusted each other even though it scared us."

Jane nodded, agreeing with Maura's viewpoint. "After we got close again, I think that I became content with how things were between us, because I never thought we'd have that back. I was scared I'd lose you and I was willing to keep what we had because it was so much more than I believed we'd get back and I didn't want to rock the boat."

"So what changed?" It was Maura's turn to become curious as she absentmindedly stroked Jane's thigh with the foot Jane wasn't currently massaging.

"I realised that even after all that we'd been through, we found our way back to each other and managed to build our relationship back up into something that was even more solid than before. That was when I knew that you and I could survive almost anything and what we had was no longer enough, because I wanted more and more of you. You were driving me crazy, you still do. You only have to look at me a certain way, or move across a room the way you do, so gracefully that it looks as if your limbs are made of fluid and I'm completely lost. I had spent so long fantasising about touching you, that when I realised I could, I was no longer able to keep my distance. Every touch or every smile, every breath you took threatened to steal mine and all I wanted to do was wrap my arms around you and kiss you. But I couldn't, I was too scared."

"Why are you so afraid of me, Jane?" Maura's voice was low, gently questioning.

"I'm not afraid of you, sweetheart, never that. I was afraid of me." Jane marvelled at the reaction that being honest with Maura after so long was causing in her. She had had never felt so light before, realising that she was no longer weighed down with secrets, because there was no need for them anymore.

"How so?"

"I feel so much for you that sometimes, I can't contain it. I was afraid that if I let it all free, and I hurt you again the way I hurt you over Paddy that I'd never forgive myself for causing you any pain. Nobody knows better than I about what you've been through and how vulnerable you can be and yet you still open yourself up to me. I didn't want to damage you."

"I'm a lot stronger than I look, Jane," Maura said quietly, realising for the first time just how deeply Jane's devotion to her ran.

"I know, but I was worried that I wasn't. You know how I get, I push people away and I hurt them by holding them at arm's length. I was afraid that if I opened myself up completely, that I'd be too weak to cope with the sheer intensity of it all. It took me a while to come to terms with allowing myself to open up to my feelings and put my trust in you completely. I wanted to tell you how I felt, that I knew you felt the same way for me too, but there was never a right time. There was always a case or a family crisis getting in the way, and I didn't realise I had become so frustrated with everything that I ended up snapping at you every five minutes. When ma said what she did tonight, it suddenly made me realise that she was right and I'd screwed up. I was thinking tonight of how much it scared that someday you might have gotten tired of waiting for me, and somebody else would succeed where I'd failed. I can't do it anymore, Maura. Everything I want to tell you feels like it's always going to fall short of how completely breathtakingly amazing you really are, but I want you, Maura, and I'm not afraid anymore." Jane pulled Maura's leg toward her, and placed a gentle kiss on the inside of her ankle.

"It's already perfect because it's _you_, Jane. We're here and there's nothing standing between us anymore." Maura said, her voice barely above a whisper as her emotions rose to the surface and showed how sincere she was by the look gracing her beautiful features.

Jane grinned suddenly, the dimples that Maura could never resist showing on her cheeks, as she placed Maura's leg on the bed and slowly crawled towards her, on her hands and knees. Maura's eyes darkened noticeably as Jane hovered over her and then gently lay down, her body half covering Maura's.

"I love you, Maura Isles, and _you're_ perfect."

Maura reached out, her hands cradling Jane's face gently as she gazed into dark chocolate brown eyes filled full of longing and desire, full of the love she had been able to see for a while, but until now had never been able to hold with both her hands and her heart.

"And I love you, Jane. So much more than you know," Maura said, her eyes shining with happy tears. "And I'm glad that you took your time."

"Why is that?" Jane swallowed heavily, knowing that they were both sitting on the precipice and were about to drag each other over it into freefall.

"Because you needed to work it out in your own time and that's exactly what I wanted you to do. I could have pounced on you any number of times, but the truth was I wasn't ready either. Sooner or later, everybody I love leaves me. I hated to think that one day my fear of losing you would come between us. I knew I ran the risk of losing you to somebody else, but I knew that I couldn't risk getting too close too quickly. When I backed off, you came closer. When I ran, you chased me, and when I stood still, you were right there beside me. It took time for me to trust that you wouldn't leave me, not because I mistrusted you but because I didn't see a reason anybody would really truly want me. Gradually, I realised that my fear was irrational; you proved that by not giving up on me when I pushed you away and got angry with you after Paddy was shot. We not only made it back, but we ended up stronger than ever."

"We've always been a team, you and I. We work together, we rely on each other."

"We do, and I wasn't used to that. Nobody ever stuck around for me, Jane. Nobody cared about the real me; nobody looked closer than the surface. But you, you were different and I knew five minutes after meeting you that you were special. I have always loved you, but when I found the strength to let you love me back, I learned how to like myself in the process and suddenly all of my fears melted away. While you took the time to become stronger, I was too. The last thing I ever wanted was for you to get close to me and for me to screw it up because of my insecurities. The last thing I ever wanted was to cause you any pain. I'd rather die than hurt you. Like you said, the time was just never right and then it was, but we didn't realise it. It took your mother giving us both a metaphorical kick up the rear end to make us see what was happening. Finally though, we're on the same page at last."

"We are," Jane nodded. "So you better warn anybody who gets within a hundred feet of you that I carry a gun and I'm not afraid to use it on them."

Maura chuckled lightly and threaded her arms around Jane's neck, pulling the brunette closer. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll let you tell Agent Thompson exactly why I'm not interested in him."

"Really?" Jane's smile was wide, her dimples still on full show.

"Really," Maura nodded, feeling a sudden rush of arousal coursing through her veins as Jane shifted the entire length of her body closer.

"Good, because there's really only one way to say that I'm head over heels in love with you, and you're all mine." Jane leaned forward, claiming ownership of Maura's lips at last. Both women moaned at the sudden contact, an electrical charge in the air at suddenly coming together in a tangle of arms, legs and lips.

Maura suddenly found herself deliciously lightheaded, as if she were floating on air, her entire body tingling at the way Jane's mouth moved against her own. Her eyes had closed of their own accord, and she felt herself lose control of limbs as they shook back and forth with arousal, and the sheer relief of years of pent up frustration at finally being able to kiss Jane, when she had spent so many nights in bed, fantasising about their lips touching in so many ways that it would leave her soaking wet and aching for release. A deep throbbing sensation began in the pit of Maura's stomach, travelling down to pulse between her legs, and then radiate outwards through her entire body as Jane latched onto her tongue, sucking it gently as her hands wandered to places they had always dreamed about.

Jane felt her slick warmth soaking through her panties, and groaned when the simple act of moving slightly caused enough pressure to create the kind of friction her body was crying out for. Jane knew that Maura was in a similar state, when she began to grind her hips against hers and as much as she wanted it to continue, she really wanted them to take their time. At least give themselves twenty-four hours to get used to the idea of being together when it had taken them so long to get there and they both needed to process it a little. As much as she was desperate to reach for the hem of Maura's nightgown and kiss her way down toned thighs that were shuddering with her need for release, before tasting her arousal, she knew she needed to slow down.

"Mmmm you feel so good," Maura breathed out, arching into Jane's body as her teeth nipped at Maura's earlobe. "Oh god."

"Not quite, but I'm sure I could take you to heaven a time or two," Jane said, wondering how long it would take her to realise that the teasing had started up again, because Maura wasn't paying attention to anything right at that moment except her hands.

"Really?" Maura raised an eyebrow at one of the worst lines she'd ever heard, especially right in the middle of enjoying what Jane was doing to her. "And you call me socially awkward."

Jane rolled her eyes and used another classic line. "I didn't realise that when I found Ms. Right, her first name was going to be Always."

Maura groaned out loud this time. "If you're trying to cool down my libido, it won't work."

"If I told you that you had a nice body, would you hold it against me?" Jane grinned, still enjoying teasing Maura immensely.

"I was trying to! If you don't stop teasing me, you'll never get to find out what's on the other side of this nightgown." Maura was frustrated again, but she knew why Jane was trying to slow them both down, they couldn't jump from best friends to lovers in the space of a couple of hours; they needed time to adjust first.

"Maybe I could just kiss you a little longer." Jane relented and moved back in for another round

"I win," Maura said triumphantly as she locked lips with Jane, and kissed her for all she was worth.

* * *

Jane smiled softly in the dark as she held Maura in her arms, the warmth of her body tightly pressed against her, the way it was always meant to be. She lay in the dark, listening to the weather raging outside the bedroom window and was content to enjoy the time they spent softly caressing each other instead of sleeping as had been their intention. It had been a little difficult to sleep though, when the main focus was their desire to asphyxiate each other with passionate kisses to the point of oxygen deprivation and tunnel vision.

"Jane?" Maura wondered if now would be the right time to approach something that was on her mind, especially given the fact that Jane was so mellow.

"Hmm?"

"Why does your mother need non-alcoholic Limoncello?"

"Because my cousin Antonio drinks it by the boat load and does a striptease before placing a certain part of his anatomy in the punchbowl as his party piece. Why?"

"Just wondering," Maura said casually, rubbing her hand in soothing circles over Jane's abs.

"Oh okay." Jane sighed softly and enjoyed the feel of Maura's hands on her skin until a very large light bulb suddenly pinged inside her head. "Limoncello? Why woul... Maura!"

"What?" She asked, blinking in the harsh light of the lamp as Jane clicked it on. "Although, I've never really understood how anybody could drink more than a little of it, as it's very sweet. Did you know that authentic Limoncello is made with grain alcohol? Traditionally it is made from Sorrento lemons, but more common lemons such as the Eureka lemon will make satisfactory Limoncello. It is also good for use in desserts. I remember once dining in this wonderful little Trattoria in Venice and..."

"Maura."

"Yes?"

"What have you done?" Jane turned on her side, hovering above the woman she loved more than life itself, who was looking a little guilty.

"Done?" Maura knew that the longer she could hold off, and manoeuvre toward the subject slowly, the less chance she'd have of getting hives and Jane going through the roof.

"Yes, what have you done? There's no point grinning at me like that, Maura. As much as I love you and want to..." Jane broke off with a moan and covered Maura's mouth with a passionate kiss that left them both breathless. "Damn, I never get tired of that. Where was I?"

"Kissing me senseless," Maura said seductively, knowing that while Jane was kissing her, she wasn't quizzing her about anything, which made it easier to think of ways to channel the conversation in the right direction, although being as addicted to Jane's lips as Maura was, it didn't make the thought process easy. "Please, carry on."

"Oh, nooo," Jane shook her head. "Nice try nerdy pants, but no. What have you done?"

"I didn't do anything."

"Maura, when you and my mother get together, it's a dead cert that either one, or both, will be planning something. What have you done? And why don't I already know about it? And what is Ma's role in all this? You may as well tell me because if you don't, there won't be any sex for you this side of Christmas."

"You want to make love to me?" Maura's smile was already practically bordering on sex as Jane felt Maura's hips begin rocking against hers. She already knew Jane wanted to make love to her; she just wanted to hear her say how much.

"Of course I want to make love to you, you're my girlfriend. I love you. And you're in a nightgown that makes your boobs look huge so yeah, I want to love you senseless."

"How romantic," Maura rolled her eyes with a grin. "Chop chop, then. Don't let me stop you, detective."

"I'm not having sex with you tonight, we've been through this." Jane was resolute, there was no way whatsoever. Not even if Maura did a striptease, covered herself in chocolate and whistled the theme tune to Kojak.

Maura pouted, trying to look the right side of completely innocent as she tried to hold in a giggle. "But why?"

"I am not having sex with you on the night my mother ordered us to. That's just too weird, and I never do as I'm told. It's against my philosophy." Jane shook her head, she still wasn't doing it, although she may just about waver if the striptease and chocolate were suddenly offered.

"What is your philosophy?"

"They may force you to give into something in the end, but don't make it easy for the bastards. I intend to make my mother work for it," Jane chuckled evilly. "And, if you persist in tempting me like this, I might just make you work for it too, you minx."

"What about groping? Is that against your philosophy?" Maura hedged her bets and almost choked with laughter when she reached for Jane's shorts and had her hand slapped away.

"In principle, no. But again, not tonight because that would mean I am doing as I'm told in addressing the sexual tension to stop us arguing and that will never happen. Keep off the family jewels, please. My panties are a no-go zone, like you come near me and I'll bite you, and then I'll cuff you to the rail in your closet and leave you there. That's just the way it works."

"I thought it was only guys who had family jewels?" Maura wondered if she'd misunderstood another colloquialism.

"I'm the only one in our family with serious balls, metaphorically speaking." Jane knew they were getting off the subject, but that was typical with Maura. "Just keep your mitts to yourself, anyway. You're not getting laid until tomorrow at the earliest, and by the way, don't think that by trying to divert me that I'll forget what the hell ma needs unleaded Limoncello for."

Maura tried to smile, the same smile she'd used on Jane that one time she had presented her with chocolate that contained gold flakes. But had to finally concede that it wasn't working. "Okay, okay. She needs it for Christmas Eve."

"What for? We usually don't bother with Limoncello. We get stuck into the eggnog and a litre of bourbon. Limoncello is for big girls blouses," Jane said, not adding that it also made her throw up quicker than Bourbon so there was no point drinking it if all she was going to do was deposit it down the plumbing ten minutes after she'd swallowed it.

"Well, your mother might just have invited a few people over..."

"Maura, who the hell did she invite?" Jane was now in complete panic mode. She'd had too much experience of her mother's Christmas parties to know that if it was all allowed to go ahead that come Christmas morning, Maura would either find herself with alcohol poisoning or wake up in the kitchen sink holding an inflatable sheep and half a pepperoni pizza. And there was that other time Jane had woken up behind the sofa with a hangover on Christmas morning one year, not realising until she'd crawled out with one half of her hair plastered flat, and the other half plastered to her face, that the parish priest had stopped by to wish them all a merry Christmas.

"Um, I can't say with any certainty," Maura said, and it was true. Angela had rattled off so many names that she was unable to keep count or remember with any certainty which names were mentioned.

"Oh, Christ! Maura, we're picking your parents up from the airport in," Jane leaned over her to look at the clock, and then turned her attention back to the blonde, "fifteen hours. And you're telling me that my mother's planned a hoedown?"

"She did ask, and I did say it was okay. I thought it was a great idea." Maura noticed the wild look in her girlfriend's eyes and began panicking that she'd agreed to something terrifying.

"Maura, you have no idea what you've just done. You've unleashed hell, a Rizzoli shaped hell. Not to mention a bunch of Alessi's who are like a carbon copy of my mother only with bigger mouths and less inhibitions, which quite frankly is virtually fucking impossible but somehow it's a reality. I dunno what Kinsey would have made of it or Freud for that matter but I suspect it would have made them look like prudes in comparison."

"I didn't know Alessi was your mother's maiden name." Maura pondered on how far Angela could trace her lineage back, wondering which part of Italy Jane's ancestors were from.

"Maura, focus. Your parents will be here tomorrow, my mother has invited my entire family tree, which will no doubt include the dead relatives, too, if I know my mother. She probably dug a few of 'em up to make up the numbers."

Maura snorted with laughter. "Jane, does it really matter? She's been so down about Christmas since your father left, and I wanted to make her happy. Besides, now that we're together, I want to meet your family, I should meet them. I don't want them to think I couldn't be bothered to introduce myself to them."

"You don't meet my family; you get absorbed and taken over by them. There isn't a single one of them who isn't bat-shit crazy. They could drink the Sam Adams brewery dry in an hour and if you're short of food, they will start chowing down on the furniture. You better make sure Bass is locked away with his lettuce, too, because somebody will cover him in Thousand Island dressing and munch the fuck out of him."

Maura began laughing again, knowing that Jane had a tendency to be a little dramatic as far as her family were concerned. "Relax, its fine. I like the idea of them here for Christmas Eve. I want them to know that they're a part of my family as much as I am of yours. That means opening my house to them, just like I did for you, your mom and your brothers."

"But Maura," Jane whined as she snuggled up to Maura and laced their fingers together as she took hold of the blonde's hand. "What will your parents think? I mean, we don't all move in the same social circle."

"Good," Maura said with conviction. "They need to mix with real people once in a while, not the boring stuff-shirts they usually mix with. I'm sure it will be fine, but if they don't like it, then they know where the door is. I'm not going to apologise to anyone for agreeing to invite your family, Jane, I have no need to."

"You haven't even told them about us yet. What if you decided to do that over Christmas? They might be shocked by it, the last thing they'll need is five hundred of my relatives arriving on the doorstep to add to the proceedings." Jane didn't want to make a bad impression, didn't want her relationship with Maura wrecked before it had even started.

"I really don't think they'll take it badly. And what do you mean if? I'll tell them as soon as they get here. I refuse to hide you, or my feelings for you over Christmas. That's not how this is going to work. We're all going to be one big family now, and everyone will just have to deal with that."

Jane couldn't help feeling proud of Maura, not only was she willing to tell her parents, but she was willing to put up with the chance of being traumatised for life by her relatives. "Even if Uncle Salvatore accepts his invitation?"

"Who is Uncle Salvatore?" Maura was fairly certain Angela had mentioned that name, but couldn't be a hundred percent and it didn't seem wise to mention it now to Jane, who was still looking slightly horrified if the twitch in her eye was anything to go by.

"God knows, but Ma reckons we're related somewhere along the line, although I've never been able to figure it out. But he uh...he has bad gas. Like he literally farts his way around the room. Don't get stuck near him, or you'll lose an eyeball. This one time, we were stuck in his car on the way to my cousin Abi's wedding, and I swear to god, he dropped one that was so bad that Tommy's vision has never been the same since. The electric windows didn't work, neither did the air conditioning and Tommy was sitting in the front seat right next to him. Poor dude's eyes had started to water and he desperately wanted some fresh air but we were doing like sixty-five on the interstate and he just had to hold on until it wore off. I've never seen somebody quite so tempted to hurl themselves from a moving vehicle before. He eventually staggered from the car looking like he was gonna puke for a week. I've seen people in better shape when they've been doused in pepper spray. It wasn't much better for me, either. Sal was gnawin' on beef jerky at the time and it took me six weeks before I could stomach eating a hamburger again. Poor Frankie though, I think he had it the worst. He was suffering from a hangover and hurled into his overnight bag, twice. He's never touched Jagermeister since."

Maura laughed loudly, the thought of the three Rizzoli siblings trapped in a car with a man suffering from a chronic gas problem was comical in the extremes. "Anyone else you need to warn me about?"

"If I did that, we'd be here all night. I'll give you quick run-down before the shindig, you'll need it fresh in your mind."

"So, we do we do between now and then?" Maura asked coyly, knowing exactly what she wanted as she slipped her hands under Jane's shirt and ran her nails down the detective's back, slowly.

"Ohh god, that feels good," Jane said, arching into Maura's touch.

"You want to give that kissing thing another go?" Maura asked, wiggling her eyebrows hopefully.

Jane pulled the smaller woman into her arms, and immediately slid under Maura's nightgown to cup the curve of her rear end with her hands. "You're not wearing any underwear."

"No," Maura shook her head, watching as the implication washed over Jane. "Want me to put some on? I wouldn't want to tempt you."

"The way I feel Maura, I'd quite happily ban you from ever being dressed again," she said, pulling Maura close and crashing their lips together as she felt the blonde's arms wrapping around her tightly.

Maura leaned back breathlessly into her pillow the minute Jane released her mouth and struggled to catch her breath. They grinned at each other stupidly, still curled around each other as they snuggled back down again.

Maura decided to change the subject and take Jane's mind off her mother's party plans. "That reminds me. You know how we were saying the other night that we needed a hobby that would keep us occupied and not fighting with each other?"

"Mhmm, any ideas?" Jane asked, her lips gravitating towards Maura's chest, kissing the dusting of freckles there.

"Yes. It's very much like the activity you're engaged in now, you just keep moving further south," Maura said, suddenly squealing with laughter when Jane jumped up and sat astride her, resting her hands on either side of the doctor's head.

"Maura Isles! Are you still trying to seduce me?"

"No." Maura shook her head and grinned up seductively at Jane, pursing her lips in such a way that there was no mistaking what was on her mind. "If I were, you wouldn't still be wearing pants. Although that can very quickly be resolved."

"You can have a lot of fun while you're still fully clothed, you know." Jane winked down at Maura, almost passing out on the spot when Maura opened her legs and pulled Jane to settle between them as she lay over her. "Have I ever told you how stunningly beautiful you really are?"

"You might have mentioned it, but never as sincerely as that." Maura felt her heart swell with love, and knew there and then that she wanted to spend the rest of her life like this, with Jane.

Jane's reply was huskier than usual, "Oh I meant it, Maura. I just wasn't lying on top of the sexiest woman I've ever known."

"Including Dana Delaney?" Maura asked, knowing that Jane could never watch re-runs of China Beach without trying to hide the fact that she was lusting over her.

"Including her," Jane said, going pink around the ears at being caught out on an old teenage TV crush. "I'm seeing a pattern here. She was a nurse and you're a doctor. Do I have some kind of medical fetish?"

"You do spend more time at Mass. General than the head trauma surgeon," Maura laughed as Jane raised an eyebrow at her. "Should I be worried that you're going to ask me to wear my scrubs and my lab coat in the bedroom?"

"Damn it, Maura," Jane growled as a bolt of arousal shot through her. "Yes."

Maura howled with laughter as Jane turned the colour of beetroot. "You were right; you do have a medical fetish."

"Shut up. You know, you missed out Kathleen Turner, Kelly McGillis, Kim Basinger and..." Jane paused when Maura shot her a murderous look.

"I'm beginning to think you have a blonde fetish, too. Was that all you did in your teens? Lust after celebrities? I never knew you were so sex obsessed."

"Oh yeah," Jane grinned, thinking back fondly to her teenage years and the rampant hormones flooding through her body. "I grew out of it eventually. Until I spotted you wearing your scrubs and lab coat for the first time and then it was like being a teenager all over again."

"I'll wear my scrubs and my lab coat if you wear your uniform." It was Maura's turn to look slightly flushed as she took in the dreamy look on Jane's face. "I've pictured you in it ever since you got your award. I'm not just talking about the uniform either, I want everything. The hat, the duty belt, gun, handcuffs, you name it."

"Patrol car," Jane deadpanned as Maura pinched her on the hip in retaliation. "Are you into role play?"

Maura seriously considered the question. "It isn't something I've ever tried. Although as part of a fulfilling sex life, it could be fun. Keep things spiced up a little if we were both willing. Have you ever tried it?"

"I can honestly say I haven't, although it has always intrigued me, if I'm being really honest."

"Really?" Maura looked quite surprised at Jane's revelation. "Well that's an unexpected surprise. I wasn't sure you'd be open to experimentation."

"I'm open to trying things I've never done before with you, I trust you enough to let you find out where my boundaries are. So long as it's just between the two of us."

"Threesomes don't appeal to me. They never have, so you don't ever have to worry," Maura said, trying to put Jane's mind at rest. "I don't want to share you with anyone else."

"I feel exactly the same. Besides, sex for me was always bad enough with one guy, so why make it worse and try it with two," Jane said with a grin as Maura snorted with laughter. "But, if it was you and Dana Delaney..."

Maura looked scandalised and flipped them over so she was the one sitting astride Jane this time. "If I thought you were serious, I'd kick you out of bed."

Jane giggled and then her features softened into a warm smile as she pulled Maura to lie against her and gently caressed her back. "I wouldn't look twice at her, or anyone else for that matter. It's you, Maura, it's always been you."

* * *

**Well, there we have it for this chapter. I hope you liked it, and I'd love it if you sent me a review to let me know what you thought, but again as always, I'll appreciate you taking the time to read even if you don't send me a review. Thank you very much! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello again ! Let me start by profusely apologizing for not updating in so long. I had two chapters to post right before Christmas which I was going to do and then my computer died on me and took the chapters with it. It's taken me this long to be able to save up to get a new one and when it finally arrived, I was so happy because I haven't been able to write this story or update it in so long. Besides, being without a computer for over six months and not being able to surf the net was hell. But I survived, the straitjacket came off after only three months! hehe. **

**Right, this is quite a long update. Eleven thousand words almost, which I hope will keep you all entertained for a wee while. It's fluffy in some places, funny in others, got some drama in there somewhere too. I'm not sure I"m totally happy with it, but then I never am, so there's only so long you can fiddle with it as a writer before you know you have to post a chapter. I can only hope that you like it.**

**I'd like to say a big, huge thank you to all of you that have read, reviewed, followed and favourited and so on. I really do appreciate every single one of you, and I think you're all wonderful for being so patient with me, even though you didn't know why I hadn't updated in so long. It's a bonus that I only had several pitchforks in the mail lol. Truly though, thank you so much for your patience.**

**Before I let you get on with reading this chapter, I'll just say that Chapter 5 is in the works, I'm about halfway through. I won't promise a specific time that you'll get it because I'm really busy at the moment, but I've set aside time to write and it won't take forever, I promise. Any and all mistakes are mine, and it hasn't been as rigorously checked as it normally is because my hayfever is really bad and I look like the little chihuahua dude from Ren and Stimpy...**

**On with the story, I hope you all like it and thanks for reading :-) **

* * *

**Chapter 4**

_Saturday December 22__nd_

Even in sleep, Jane was well versed in the art of raising an eyebrow. The other eyebrow quickly joined its twin as she was brought back into consciousness and felt the warm, comforting weight of Maura's body resting against her own. A glance toward the window told her that it was still dark outside and far too early to be awake, so she snuggled down as she wondered what on earth had woken her in the first place. It didn't take her long to figure it out; she was soon entertaining thoughts of smashing Maura's alarm clock into tiny, microscopic pieces.

The exhaustion she felt was normal. The shit eating grin she was wearing first thing in the morning wasn't. But then Jane supposed the shit eating grin was all part and parcel of kissing Maura – and being kissed – to the point of oxygen deprivation all night. Not content with kissing Maura until it looked like the doctor had been overdosing on lip collagen injections, Jane had been determined to map out the contours of the blonde's body, even if they both had remained fully clothed. Or fully clothed in Jane's case, because Maura was naked underneath her gown, which was little more than a few pieces of silk stitched together. The shit eating grin was also due in part to the way Maura's hand was cupped around Jane's left breast while her head rested against the other.

Jane could remember thinking the previous night that no matter how much she wanted to make love to Maura, they needed at least 24 hours to get used to being together first. 24 hours had seemed like a great number, especially as they both realised they'd been practically dating since they'd met. It had balanced the need to rip each other's clothes off with knowing they should behave like human beings and give themselves time to adjust, quite nicely. Jane's hormones however, were rapidly reaching boiling point, which made her wonder why 24 hours had seemed like a good number in the first place. Was it some sort of chivalrous streak or what? How did she ever think that Maura 'sex goddess' Isles actually needed time to adjust to their new relationship? The woman was primed and ready to blow and Jane wanted to be in the firing line when she did.

In hindsight, Jane could instantaneously recall at least a dozen occasions since they'd met when Maura had looked at her like she was going to eat her alive, and being the thicky detective that she was, she hadn't realised it at the time. In fact, on several occasions during the previous night, Jane was tempted to call a halt to the proceedings for a moment while she asked how many calories Maura was ingesting by having her mouth, not to mention her teeth, all over Jane all at once. After one particularly passionate kiss, Jane was convinced Maura had turned cannibal. After another passionate kiss in which she had explored Maura's tonsils, Jane was convinced she wanted to turn cannibal.

But last night had brought about a change that Jane couldn't even put into words. Something had seemed to click into place; something that Jane couldn't quite quantify due to the sheer magnitude of her emotions had been suddenly released. Their relationship and her love for Maura was something she had a feeling she was never going to be able to control, and with that realisation, came the knowledge that for the first time in her life, she was completely okay with that. She was also completely okay with the way Maura's naked thigh was now pressed between her own. Screw chivalry, it was interfering with the good stuff! She should've bent Maura over her bathroom counter last night and...

"Morning, sweetie," Maura yawned, burrowing further into Jane's neck as she tightened her hold on the detective. "Mmm this is nice."

"It would be if it weren't for your alarm clock," Jane groused, knowing that whatever god-awful time it was, it was never too early to register her first complaint of the day. "Every time I sleep here, I'm unpleasantly kicked back into consciousness."

"I don't know why," Maura said, stifling another yawn as she wholeheartedly wished she didn't have to move, and tried to put off thoughts of getting ready for work for just another five minutes. "The alarm is designed to wake you slowly with sounds from nature."

"That's the problem. It's the sudden need to pee that's caused by the sounds of a river running through your bedroom which is precisely what wakes me up." Jane grumbled and pulled Maura closer so that she was effectively pinned underneath the blonde which was exactly where she wanted to remain. "And when I get woken up, so do my hormones."

Maura chuckled and raised herself up slightly to peer down at Jane, who was still laying with her eyes closed, knowing that if she didn't open them, she wouldn't be forced to get up and go jogging, or do yoga, or any of the other crazy stuff that Maura did to pretend she actually wanted to be up and about so early. That had all changed now, though; Jane could suggest a highly beneficial workout regimen without either of them having to move from the bed, and there would be plenty of Immunoglobulin A to round out the deal.

"You're beautiful first thing in the morning," Maura whispered reverently, never having the chance to be quite so open in her admiration before.

"You're beautiful no matter what time of the day it is," Jane cracked an eye open, and saw large, expressive hazel eyes gazing down at her like she was the most amazing thing Maura had ever seen.

"If I didn't know better, I'd swear you were trying to get laid." Maura decided a little early morning teasing was in order. Why should she be the only one whose lady plumbing desperately needed a good overhaul? Jane was the perfect woman for the job; she was a plumber's daughter, after all. But manners dictated she should actually show up for work when she was supposed to, instead of spending the day in bed with her lover.

"If I'm honest with you, part of me has been waiting for you to take advantage of me since our eyes met over that floater that got wedged on the Longfellow Bridge." Jane tried not to laugh at the sudden horrified look on Maura's face. "I took one look at you in those designer jeans you'd changed into so you could haul your ass into that boat, and I couldn't stop thinking about running my hands over your cute little butt and then taking the jeans off with my teeth."

"Oh Jane, that is disgusting!" Maura wrinkled her nose. "You were thinking those kinds of thoughts over a severely decomposed body with a very unpleasant odour? Not to mention half of BPD was present, as was the coast guard.

"The naughty part of my brain was, yes. I spend most of my life hanging over corpses, Maura. When else would I think of you in a sexy situation?"

Maura couldn't help laughing about that one; mostly because it was absolutely true. She and Jane had always flirted and bantered over bodies, partially because it was a coping mechanism designed to deal with the horrors they saw, but mostly because that was exactly where they spent most of their lives. "You could wait until you're at your desk. I for instance had a difficult time of it last week in my staff meeting. I just couldn't seem to keep my mind on the budget. All I could think about was you in that damn shirt I bought you, and whether you'd ever truly complain if I ripped it off you and threw you on my desk. Lou Hirst was going over the details of his budget for the Holyoke office and I was busy thinking about my head being buried between your legs while your shirt was open and my hands were caressing your breasts."

"Jesus, Maura," Jane groaned, feeling a bolt of arousal hit her right between the legs. "No wonder you looked flushed and goofy looking when I walked in."

"It was entirely your fault. I was thinking about bringing you to orgasm with my mouth and then you walked in wearing that shirt; your sleeves rolled up, your voice super husky and hopped up on adrenaline to tell me that we had a case. I almost spontaneously orgasmed, in a meeting, with all of my senior staff, at 8am on a Monday morning." Maura closed her eyes and recalled the memory with a shudder.

"Very kinky, Doctor Isles. Speaking of which...we could sleep in this morning. The weather is no doubt awful, so we could stay here and keep each other warm." Jane's voice had dropped an octave, her words velvety and dripping with promise.

"I think I like that idea." Maura smiled and leaned in to catch the Detective's lips, feeling an electric shock course down her spine as their lips met and melded together in a symphony of warmth and softness. Who needed a job? She could live off her trust fund and keep Jane as her love slave. That would definitely work.

Jane flipped their positions, coming to rest against Maura as the Doctor tried to touch her everywhere at once. Groaning aloud when Maura's tongue slipped inside her mouth, Jane's hand gravitated towards the plunging neckline of Maura's silk nightgown and slowly pushed aside the fabric one millimetre after another. Her lips caressed Maura's tongue in a flurry of alternating pressures and movement that felt like an unfamiliar but highly sensual dance to them both as her fingers danced across the blonde's aching breasts. As her hand drifted lower, ghosting across Maura's quivering stomach, toned, silky thighs parted as Jane's hand came to rest on the soft skin of Maura's leg, slowly sliding higher and higher to where she knew that Maura lay bare.

The scent of Maura's arousal began to drive Jane far beyond any state of arousal she had ever hoped to dream about, or indeed personally experienced. A coiling sensation lay heavy in her lower abdomen, blood rushing south as she felt herself begin to drip down the inside of her own thighs. They both gasped loudly when Maura's thigh came into contact with Jane's shorts, her desire having already soaked through the material which left a slick coating on Maura's leg as she applied pressure to where Jane needed her most.

"Oh God, Jane. Are you this wet for me?" Maura managed to ask as Jane released her mouth and latched on to her neck instead.

"Always," she whispered back against the fluttering pulse beneath her lips.

Jane had never wanted to touch somebody as much as she wanted to touch Maura right then. But touching didn't quite feel adequate; she wanted to meld her being into Maura's, for them to intertwine so completely that they were no longer separate entities but one and the same; forever bound, inside and around each other. Now she had some idea of what an addiction felt like, craving that one thing with every cell in her body and no matter how much she got, it would never be enough. She had felt that way about Maura from the moment they'd met, but only now completely understood why she'd always felt so compelled to touch the medical examiner, to have thoughts about her that always seemed out of context with being a best friend, to want to protect her and to be the only one the Doctor needed.

"A beautiful work of art," Jane murmured as she released Maura's neck, and began caressing the skin of her jaw with soft kisses as her hand moved higher, exposing more skin as it went. "So beautiful in fact, that I could believe God created you with His own hands."

Maura let out a breathless moan, Jane's words causing a wave of love to rush through her heart as her hand created a raging fire between her legs. Never, in all her life, had she ever felt this aroused, nor this worshipped. Jane's tenderness made her want to moan and to weep all at the same time. None of her past lovers had ever shown her this much care or affection, usually being concerned more with themselves, and every last shred of fear that Maura had held inside was washed away.

Words could come easily, but the way Jane was touching her could never be anything more than completely honest. And that was when Maura knew for sure that spending the rest of her life with Jane was more than just a dream. The depth of feeling between them, and the bond that Jane had forged with her from the very beginning was unbreakable. Certainly, it had been tested at times and she was sure it would be tested again in the future, but Maura knew that the way Jane felt about her, and the way she felt about Jane could never be erased. Maura didn't rely on gut feelings, but this feeling was so overwhelming that even she knew that it was to be trusted; she could feel it connect so deeply inside of her, knew that they would always love each other as desperately as they did now.

"I dreamed about this for so long. On all of those nights we weren't together and sometimes when we were," Maura said breathlessly, tangling her fingers in silky dark hair, arching up into willing lips as Jane kissed her way down her throat, further drawing up Maura's nightgown. "I dreamed about _you _for so long."

"Mmm, I look forward to hearing about your dreams, baby," Jane husked, revelling in the way her lips brushed against delicately soft and sleep warm skin, tasting and teasing in a way she had never thought would be possible. "I've always had this dream, about what it would be like when I fell in love. I would hold somebody in my arms, kiss them softly, protect them, love them, promise to be everything they needed because I was desperately lonely and the only way to comfort myself was to dream. Until I met you, I had no idea who that person was going to be. Nobody else had ever fit; they didn't feel like that part of me that was missing. But the minute I saw you face Maura, I just knew, somewhere deep down even if I didn't realise for a long time. All along it was you, I had no idea where you were or how we'd meet, but it's always been you I've been waiting for. You're the other half of me that's always been missing. You're my dream come true."

"Oh, Jane." Maura felt her stomach clench tightly at the feeling that Jane's whispered words and continued worship of her body were eliciting in her and knew that she'd managed to hold on long enough to finally find a place in the world where she belonged, the place she'd dreamed of as a lonely young woman who had always believed she would spend her life alone. "It will always be you; there'll never be anybody else for me. I can't breathe without you."

Jane rested her head against Maura's chest, listening to her rapidly beating heart, and breathing in the comforting and warm scent of her skin. She enjoyed the feeling of Maura's arms wrapping around her, being able to revel in being held as much as she enjoyed holding Maura, which was an entirely new experience for her.

"Maura..."

"Hmm?" she murmured as she felt Jane's hand resume sliding up the inside of her thigh with renewed purpose.

"HEY! Breakfast is almost ready, let's haul butt before it gets cold!" Angela's dulcet tones rocketed up the stairs, passing through the heavy wooden door of Maura's bedroom as if it were no more substantial than aluminium foil.

"Be down in a minute!" Maura called out as Jane dropped her head to Maura's shoulder, gnashing her teeth and swearing savagely into the pillow underneath her girlfriend's head.

Dean Martin could be heard crooning in the distance along with Angela, and Jane wondered if it was mentally unhealthy to entertain thoughts of cuffing her mother and leaving her in lockup for a week while she and Maura enjoyed the resulting peace. "God! She tells me to get busy banging you and then interrupts when I'm trying to do it! I could throttle her. Korsak, too. You think she'd be too focused on still hiding her secret love life from the rest of us to screw up our sex life! I know she thinks nobody knows. I know she thinks she's good at hiding it. It might just be time to torture her a little over it."

Maura chuckled but immediately it morphed into a breathless exclamation and any reply she was going to make was lost as Jane kissed her left breast, drawing the dusky pink nipple into her mouth and swirling her tongue around the sensitive tip, before releasing it with a pop.

"I want to keep doing that, and so much more and believe me, I would have if Ma hadn't interrupted," Jane said apologetically with a pained look on her face. All she really wanted was to be close to Maura, to hold her and to show her how much she worshipped her while the rest of the world left them alone for a while. But she knew it wasn't possible at the moment; they still needed to go to work anyway.

"As much as I'm trying to work on hating her for interrupting us right now, I really can't," Maura said with a smile as she pulled Jane closer and took hold of her face, rubbing her thumbs across Jane's cheekbones. "Apart from the obvious reason, that she helped bring us together, the most important one is that she was responsible in part for creating you and I will always love her for that."

"Maura," Jane said breathlessly, finally understanding that all of the things she'd desperately wanted to feel and never could, had all been waiting for now, this moment when everything was perfect because it was Maura. "I...I know what I want to say but I can't find the words because words will never be enough to describe how much I love you."

"Shh, it's okay, sweetheart," Maura leaned up and pressed her lips against Jane's as she wrapped her arms around the brunette's neck. "I know how you feel. I love you, too."

"Would you be opposed to me torturing Ma for a while?" Jane asked when they broke apart, shooting Maura an adorably evil grin.

"Depends. What are the terms?" Maura bargained with a grin of her own as Jane rolled them over and playfully slapped the blonde on the rear end.

"Oh no, you don't get to play. You can't hold your own water because you can't lie. And secondly, you'll only start negotiating deals for points which in turn means I have to be your slave just so I can wind my mother up for a few days."

Maura pouted sulkily and immediately reversed their positions again as she rolled on top of Jane. "You're no fun. You only want to torture her because she crotch-blocked you."

"Damn right. She's getting as bad Suzy 'cock-blocker' Chang. Every time I try to eye-sex you, or flirt with you, Suzy shows up to put a halt to the proceedings. Between her and my mother, I must have the biggest case of girly blue balls, ever," Jane whined as Maura giggled above her, causing lustful thoughts to spring up again as she felt Maura's breasts rubbing against her own. "Just let me have some fun. You do that bending the truth thing you do and let's see how far I can get before she figures it out. If all else fails, I'll start in on teasing her about her not so secret love affair with Korsak."

Except Jane knew that would be difficult, judging by the wicked grin Maura was sporting. The woman was planning something, Jane could tell. Perhaps this would be a great opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: torture her mother and tease Maura all at once, thereby heading her attack off at the pass. However, a little voice in Jane's head was telling her that as far as those two were concerned, she would always have her work cut out for her. Maybe a different strategy was in order.

* * *

The different strategy idea had lasted all of ten seconds. The plan had been to wait and then sneak out thereby avoiding the inevitable questions about the previous evening. Jane knew that it would be the fastest - and most amusing - way to drive her mother completely up the wall. It had seemed like a fabulous idea when Jane had been formulating her escape plan whilst brushing her teeth, but the entire situation had long surpassed being ridiculous and was now so absurdly stupid that Jane wondered what the hell she was doing. She was hiding barefoot in Maura's hallway, clutching her boots and her work shirt after spending a wonderful night in Maura's bed, passionately kissing, groping, and having x-rated thoughts about her, but not actually having sex with her. Something had definitely gone wrong and it didn't take a genius to work out that it was her mother and her big, fat habit of interfering in Jane's life. To say that Jane was horny and cranky about not being able to resolve the fact wasn't an understatement. It only made her all the more determined to avoid telling her mother anything for as long as she could. It had seemed like a great idea at the time, and would have worked, had it not been for Maura.

Ten minutes of waiting to escape had been spent listening to Maura actually encouraging her mother to hang around the house. How had it ever seemed like a good idea to let Maura know what she was going to do in the first place? And why hadn't Maura even batted an eyelid when she'd told her why she was going to wind her mother up? She could have at least mentioned how crazy it was, but no, she'd been willing to negotiate terms in order to remain silent and play along, which Jane was sure would have meant that Maura would end up playing her like a fiddle. She probably still would, because Jane had a sneaky feeling Maura thought the whole thing was hilarious and was encouraging her to act screwy just to entertain herself. Plus, there was that grin she'd been wearing in the bedroom; the kind of grin that said Maura was being devious.

Jane was beginning to think that when she'd first had the idea of coaching Maura in being a little less socially awkward, that somebody should have slapped her stupid for even thinking about it. Not only had she succeeded in her goal, but she'd created some kind of monster. It was like those science fiction horror stories she'd read as a kid; you started out with something harmless that mutated into a sentient being that started wreaking havoc on everything around it. Except Maura wasn't wreaking havoc on anybody but Jane and her hormones, but that was beside the point.

She could see the film posters now: Jane fleeing for her life with a twenty foot Maura in a white coat in hot pursuit, below a luridly coloured title of "When Nerds Attack". Jane had a feeling that the tagline would read something like: 'just when you thought it was safe to go back into the lab'. Not only had Maura learnt to recognise sarcasm, and the art of playing mind games, she'd embraced it and used it on Jane whenever the opportunity arose. Jane wasn't sure whether to be horrified or completely turned on by how sexy it was.

A sudden vision of a James Bond villain style Maura, sitting like some evil genius in a huge leather chair in an office whilst stroking Bass and scrutinising several computer screens as she thought up reasons to torture Jane was funny. But only until Jane realised that was exactly how the woman spent her day. Minus Bass, of course. But it wasn't like she hadn't taken him to work before so it wasn't such a stretch after all.

"Did Janie sleep over here last night, or was she just early getting here?" Angela asked casually, jolting Jane back into the present as she listened to her mother moving around the kitchen.

"Oh, don't act like you don't know, Ma," Jane whispered, as she gestured grumpily.

"Yes, she stayed last night." Maura's tone hinted at the fact that more had occurred than Jane just spending the night.

Jane glared through the wall and began gesturing at Maura this time, even though she couldn't see her. It wasn't that Jane didn't want to tell her mother, she wanted to shout how she felt about Maura from the rooftops, but old habits die hard. Jane wanted to make Angela work for it after her antics the previous evening and her god-awful timing that morning.

"Did she stay in the spare room?" Angela's attempt at subtlety was about as subtle as a house brick wrapped up in a pink bow to the forehead.

"No, she slept in my bed with me." Maura's voice held a teasing tone and Jane's gestures became ever more violent.

"Traitor!" Jane whispered, knowing the game was definitely up. If she wanted to escape she'd have to climb out of the bedroom window and she'd be damned if she was dangling in mid-air only half dressed at the home of the Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

She could only imagine how that would turn out: A Fox news crew, several neighbours who would swear blind they'd heard noisy sex night after night, and a leak at the department who would sell lurid details of illicit sexual liaisons in the morgue and inappropriate groping in the elevator. And she knew exactly what Maura would be doing the entire time Jane was being rescued by the fire department; she'd be busy choosing an outfit in readiness for her interview on the Conan O'Brien show. Maura let loose on America, explaining how the strongest muscle in the human body in proportion to its size was the tongue, which Jane knew would leave her wide open to being asked if that conclusion was based on personal experience. Maura would most likely respond with another innuendo laden remark and before everybody knew where they were, Maura would have her own show on cable giving advice on an anonymous housewife's inability to orgasm and how to overcome erectile dysfunction in senior citizens. The whole thing didn't bear thinking about.

Deciding she'd had enough and that it was time to take command of the situation, Jane slipped her boots on and sauntered into the kitchen in just her pants and black tank top. The minute she walked through the door, Maura's eyes were riveted to her and if she really wanted to, Jane could exact her revenge right there and then. But given the fact that the list of Maura's misdemeanours had grown exponentially starting last night when she'd crawled into bed without any underwear on, to allowing her mother to invite half of the Eastern Seaboard along to Christmas Eve, to refusing to play along that morning while Jane had her fun torturing Angela, Jane knew it would take a while to work out an appropriate punishment.

However, Jane had decided to bide her time. Her mother had expressly forbidden arguing, but she didn't say anything about teasing and flirting until it drove Maura crazy. She hung her shirt over the chair next to Maura and ambled towards the fridge to pour herself a glass of orange juice knowing that Maura was watching her every move.

"Hey, Ma. You look well rested. Did you sleep hanging upside down in the fridge again?" Jane's face creased into a cheeky smile as Angela wore a look that would have had Jane running as a teenager.

"You're aiming for a wooden spoon across the back of the head, Jane Clementine Rizzoli." Angela waved the spoon menacingly at her daughter and held her cheek out as Jane leaned in to kiss her whilst a flirty wink was thrown at Jane from Maura's direction. "Keep it up and it might just find its way up your ass, too."

"The abuse I get around here," Jane shook her head, and took a long pull of her orange juice, watching with satisfaction as Maura squirmed in her chair when she swallowed and licked her lips.

"Good morning, Jane. Did you sleep well?" Maura's smile was back in place, looking as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, whilst Jane leant down to place a good morning kiss on her cheek. The smile faltered slightly at her close proximity, and when Jane knew her mother wasn't watching, she followed with a kiss to the blonde's neck, finishing up by one to the lips.

"Morning, Maura. I slept fine, thank you," which was a complete and total lie because they'd kissed each other into a coma and had only gotten about three hours worth of sleep all told. "Did you sleep well?"

"I slept just fine until you tried to cuff me to the bed," Maura said casually, internally cheering that a golden opportunity had been offered up to her easily by Jane, who didn't appear to be fully compos mentis and on top of her game yet.

Angela twirled around quickly, the spoon she held in her hand frozen in mid-air. "Janie!" Angela rolled her eyes. "I told you to have sex with her. I didn't tell you to cuff the poor woman to the bed and ravage her senseless. Geez, you kids and your sex games."

Jane had chosen that moment to take another sip of her orange juice, and ultimately ended up choking on it as it shot out of her mouth and back into the glass. "Sweet Jesus and the baby orphans!"

Maura was no longer able to hold her coffee cup and had to place it down before it, too, was added to the list of morning spillages. Strangled peals of refined laughter quickly segued into the deep, dirty belly laugh that Maura reserved for times when something was just too funny not to pee her pants laughing about it. The look on Jane's face was darkly mutinous as if perhaps she really was now considering handcuffing her to the bed after all. Maura could only hope.

"We were not playing sex games!" Jane squeaked, before throwing up her hands and burying her face in them. Now she had an inkling of how it felt to be an Italian male when all the female members of the family got together to talk about them behind their back.

"There's no shame in it, Janie. Your father and I used to do it all the time." Angela bustled about the kitchen as she banged cupboards and utensils the same way she always had, leaving Jane convinced that her mother had no concept whatsoever of her own noise.

"Ma! Stop right there," Jane felt her stomach flop uncomfortably. It was too early in the morning to hear unwanted nuggets of information about her parents' sex life.

"We often used to play cop and suspect," Angela grinned, watching as Maura's eyes lit up in amusement at the way Jane started frantically shaking her head.

"No, no, NO! Do not to tell me that, Jesus, please do not tell me that," Jane whined, hoping to scrub the image from her brain. "Wait a minute, you better not have..."

"Better not have what?" Maura asked enthusiastically, her natural curiosity having been piqued.

"No," Jane wiped a hand across her forehead. "My uniform. Please tell me...No, that's just...it can't... There is no way Pop could have fitted his fat ass in my patrol uniform."

"Who said he was playing the cop?" Angela asked with her eyebrow raised, enjoying the look of horror on her daughter's face. It never failed; all she had to do was plant a seed and then watch Jane's imagination run wild as her brain tied itself up in knots.

"That's it. Officially throwing up in my mouth." Jane dropped her head toward the counter. "I cannot believe you borrowed my uniform for that!"

Maura put her hand across her mouth and snorted into it, desperately trying to hold down her laughter, but it was impossible.

"Yeah, you can laugh," Jane pointed an accusing finger at Maura. "But if you're even half as kinky as I suspect, when you try to picture me in my cop uniform, you're gonna get an unwanted picture of my mother wearing it, and handcuffing my father to the dresser while she whips him across the ass with my duty belt! Oh god, I've made myself sick now." She'd also said too much because Angela was looking at them both with a raised eyebrow.

When Maura did indeed picture it, she immediately stopped grinning, and Jane's point hit home forcefully, suddenly dimming her fantasy of ripping Jane's uniform from her body in a fit of passion.

"See?" Jane nodded with a laugh in Maura's direction as it became apparent that her girlfriend's enthusiasm for Angela's antics had gone out of the window. Maybe that would teach her not to play hardball with Jane Rizzoli, detective extraordinaire. The only problem was, it had dimmed Jane's fantasy of having Maura wear her uniform so she could be the one to rip it off her in a fit passion. Jane had a sudden need to find a bottle of bleach and a sturdy pan scrubber; thanks to her mother, if she ever pictured Maura in her cop uniform ever again, she'd get an unwanted snippet of her mother wearing one.

Angela looked at the horrified expressions on the women's faces and couldn't hold it in any longer as she began giggling away. "You know, for a cop and a medical examiner, you two are so gullible. I never did use your uniform, Jane. Your father wasn't into uniforms."

"Oh thank god," Jane breathed a sigh of relief and decided to hold onto her little fantasy for future use.

"He preferred stockings and suspenders, oh and those little corset thingies," Angela said, motioning towards her bosom as Jane groaned loudly in disgust.

"Santa Maria, Madre di Dio." Jane husked, wishing her mother was somewhere else. Somewhere nice and far away, like Alaska.

Angela rolled her eyes. "Just like your father. He used to think that speaking Italian would make a girl's pants fall off too. And besides, the only thing holy about you is your socks. You need to apologise to Maura for cuffing her at your first rodeo. You haven't got a romantic bone in your body. Wine and flowers, is that so hard to remember?"

"if memory serves me correctly, you ordered me to just get on with doing her yesterday! At which point exactly was I supposed to present her with flowers? Before I threw her on the coffeetable and banged her freckles off? Or during her orgasm, so I could get her to chow down on 'em so she didn't interrupt the end of your movie?"

Another strangled wave of laughter came from Maura who was currently boneless and resting on the counter, not being able to do anything other than lie there and giggle.

"Why am I not in some asylum somewhere?" Jane pondered quietly with a faraway look as she narrowed her eyes and threw up her hands in a gesture. "I should be in a padded cell. It isn't possible to be a member of this family and still function at a normal level. I should see Cavanaugh about a psych evaluation."

"No point, Jane. I can already tell you that your brain is in your ass." Angela began spooning scrambled eggs onto plates, shortly followed by bacon. "So, does this mean you two are gonna act like sane human beings now you got laid?"

"Maura, you better tell her what really happened." Jane wasn't sure it was possible to threaten Maura with payback of any description anymore; her street cred was in tatters thanks to her mother. And plus, the entire damn thing was derailed now, and there didn't seem much point in carrying on when she was the one being tortured.

"We didn't have sex, Angela. Jane really did try to cuff me to the bed, but she was having a dream."

"Ah, c'mon! You know that really doesn't sound any better. As soon as I realised I was laying all over you, Maura, I moved. Although I noticed you were too busy smiling to complain about it!" Never too late to carry on teasing Maura, though.

"Just when I was beginning to get fond of contact sports, too." Maura knew she was pushing her luck when Jane's eyebrows twitched, knowing that it was a sign she was already plotting to pay her back.

Jane tried to ignore the comment, shovelling her breakfast in her mouth so she could get the hell out of there. "God, I hate Christmas."

Angela sat down to eat her own breakfast. "You should be grateful the holidays are nearly here. If this were any other time of the year, I'd just kick your butts out and have done with it. At least this way, I'm giving you both a chance to get laid. You two better hurry up and get down to business, because if you go back to fighting again, I'll pack your bags myself."

Jane immediately stood up, left the remnants of her food and slid her shirt on before buttoning it up and tucking it into her pants as Maura watched her intently. "That's my cue to go to work."

"You're not going to wait for me, Jane?" Maura turned and sent a wicked grin in Jane's direction, loving the fact that she could command the situation for once when Jane usually always had the upper hand. Not that she had ever been one for playing games, had never really understood the concept until she'd started spending time with the detective, but there was just something so wonderful about teasing Jane, especially when Jane teased her back.

"No, you're like a homing device for trouble."

"Haven't you forgotten something?" Maura raised an eyebrow and wondered just how far she could push her luck before Jane went through the roof.

"Huh?" Jane, never at her best in the mornings was still in a state of shock and therefore not firing on all cylinders. If she had been, she might have seen the warning sign that Maura was about to score major points.

"Where's my goodbye kiss?" Maura grinned and expected Jane to embark on another early morning rant.

Instead, the brunette approached her and leaned in, pressing a quick kiss to her lips. As she leaned back, she realised exactly what she'd done without thinking about it and immediately locked eyes with Maura, who winked at her. "You did that on purpose. You took advantage of me."

"Not half as much as I'd like to," Maura said, with a saucy laugh.

"Don't mind me, I don't mind anything else so long as you two stay fully clothed while I'm here," Angela replied around a mouthful of bacon."if you wanna get x-rated, let me go home and put my ipod on first."

"If I'd known it was so easy to get you to go home, I'd have ripped Maura's clothes off and thrown her on the counter a long time ago." Jane grinned broadly, the balance of her having the upper hand finally restored as she picked up her gun and her keys and with a smug look, bent over to press another kiss to Maura's lips, this one longer and much more passionate than the last before straightening up and sauntering towards the front door, leaving two speechless women in her wake. "Rizzoli has left the building."

Almost as soon as Maura recovered her senses, there was a crashing noise and loud cursing from the hallway that meant Jane had tripped over the dog's chew toy again.

"Goddamn it Bass! Why do you always have to park your ass at the door?! You too, Joe Friday! Scoot! And quit leavin' the squeaky bone layin' around or I might just jam it up your furry ass!"

Maura looked at Angela and grinned.

* * *

Glancing up at the clock, Maura saw that it was almost 8am and longed to be able to put the telephone down and get to work. Arguments about budget woes were the norm, there was always some government employee eager to cut costs and come up with ever more inventive ways to squeeze more work out of them for less money. It was an aspect of her job that Maura didn't much like; she knew she'd get much more done if it wasn't for the constant round of admin problems that plagued her existence.

She understood that world, her parents were a part of it, as was their social circle but Maura had always hated that aspect of it. So much in life was always about money, the bottom line always about profit before people. Maura would never deny that she was wealthy, that she led a comfortable existence and enjoyed the privileges that money brought her, but it had never meant more to her than anything else. If given a choice between her money and her family, her family would win every time. Other people she knew didn't quite share that philosophy and she had always wondered how people who held such views could sleep at night.

"Yes, Paul, I know how important it is to keep the current budget as low as possible due to the fact that we're applying for an increase in funding. But in the last few months, homicides have spiked off the charts. We're all working towards a common goal here and you barracking me about the amount we spend on gloves and other protective equipment isn't going to help. Do you realise how many bodies we have through here a week? Each one of them is a veritable playground for microbes and harmful bacteria which could make the rest of us ill if we're not adequately protected. We also need to ensure that no cross contamination occurs thereby jeopardizing a case in court. I have very strict medico-legal guidelines to adhere to, Paul, and you griping about having to sign off on an extra order this week really isn't helping."

As he began stating his point on the other end. Maura was only half listening, knowing that she wasn't going to budge and he ultimately couldn't refuse but he was going to state his case again anyway. She jotted down a quick list of the things she wanted to accomplish, and then began shuffling through the files on her desk. Deciding she could probably work while she was waiting for Paul to draw breath, she picked up a nearby case file and shuffled her chair to the other end of her desk, as she uncovered her personal microscope. She plucked a slide from its box and slid it underneath the lens.

Maura leant in momentarily, then leaned back as she gripped the phone tightly. Her brow furrowed delicately as she checked the slide underneath the microscope again. Confusion set in for just a moment until she checked the labels, and felt her blood pressure rise rapidly. The information clearly marked was impossible and yet, there it was.

Boston OCME

Case # 2013-6245

Mason, Jonathon

Brain Specimen # 1

Maura's blood ran cold; not only was the specimen for the wrong case, but it was also labeled incorrectly. The slide was clearly a hepatic slide, the thin tissues of the liver immediately indetifiable by its texture, the Hepatocytes, the branches of the hepatic artery and the bile duct, not to mention the branch of the hepatic portal vein. These were as familiar to Maura as the nose on her face; she had studied thousands of slides in her professional life, spent hours poring over them at medical school, and knew that it didn't take any medical training to be able to identify between the two, because the brain was instantly indentifiable, even to the uninitiated.

"Paul," she cut in on his droning, immediately halting his tirade. "I'm going to need to call you back, something's come up."

She quickly slammed the reciever back into the cradle without waiting for his response and then immediately picked it up again, dialing an internal extension with shaking hands. She waited with ill disguised impatience for the person on the other end to pick up as nausea caused her stomach to roll uncomfortably and a cold sweat to break out on her forehead.

"Jake? This is Doctor Isles. Could you come to the autopsy suite, please?" Although politely asked, the tone of her voice had conveyed the fact that it was an order of the kind that Maura usually never issued.

Her morgue technician, Jake Bannerman however, didn't seem to agree. "Can this wait, Doc? I'm eating breakfast."

"No, it can't wait. I'm looking at a major problem here and I demand that you stop what you're doing and join me as quickly as possible." Maura felt her temper rise, her hands shaking so much now that she had to take a deep breath and grip the handset tightly in case she dropped it.

"But Doc..." his voice had taken on the whining quality that usually grated on her nerves if she spent too much time around him.

"Now, Jake!" she slammed the phone down, irritated not with his unprofessional attitude but his refusal to accept her authority. It hadn't been the first time, but Maura was damn sure it was going to be the last.

His bad attitude was something she'd grown accustomed to, she'd had no choice, but that didn't mean that she was going to tolerate a screw up of this magnitude. Who knew how many other cases were involved? By the time she'd gathered all of the slides together, checked which ones appeared to be mixed up and which weren't, Maura had sunk into a very rarely experienced cold rage. She could accept mistakes, she had made plenty of them herself over the years but never in her professional life, where mistakes could never afford to be made. It was mistakes that allowed murderers to go free; it resulted in people being cheated out of justice when a loved one was taken from them in any of the most violent ways imaginable.

"Where's the fire?" Bannerman asked five minutes later when he shuffled in the door, looking annoyed at having been disturbed before he wanted to start work.

His thin face was sullen beneath a messily styled mop of dark hair, that probably took him as long to style as it took Maura to curl her hair in the mornings. Dark brown eyes watched her with barely concealed annoyance; anger at what he felt was an unnecessary start to the day. His scrubs were creased, and they gaped on a frame that could be described as lean at best. What he lacked in bulk, he more than made up for in height, towering over Maura at 6ft 4 inches, which was only shortened marginally when he leaned on a nearby countered and crossed his arms and legs as he waited with a disinterested and bored air about him.

"First of all, cut the attitude," Maura growled, deciding to channel Jane, because she hadn't really ever lost her temper with anybody before, except for that one time with Jane, and she wasn't sure if she could keep it up. Mimicing Jane however, she could manage.

"I wasn't..." he flung his hand out towards her like a petulant teenager as he began trying to defend himself.

"Hey! When my mouth is moving, that means yours is shut and your ears are open, understand me?" Maura could never remember feeling this angry before, but nor could she ever remember being so assertive, either. It was oddly cathartic, although she knew she'd feel guilty later on for raising her voice.

"Yes, Doctor Isles," he said, sensing that she was in no mood for anything other than a hundred percent compliance from him.

"Good. Now, perhaps you'd care to explain to me why I found slides for the Mason case, when I was reviewing the slides for the Jefferson cases. Not only that, but the hepatic slides are mislabeled as being brain samples. On further investigation, I discoverd that the slides from the kidneys are missing completely."

"Does it matter?" he asked, missing the look on Maura's face as he slid up onto the counter and dangled his legs back and forth. "The Mason case is a natural death. So you know, no legal proceedings appear to be compromised. Lets file it and move on."

Maura couldn't believe her ears, couldn't actually believe that he had the gall to say it, much less think it. "The Jefferson cases however are still part of an active multiple homicide case and we're currently engaged in an investigation to find their killer! So yes, cases have been compromised."

He looked at her for a moment, and she could tell that the cogs in his mind were ticking over. She could also see the beginnings of a smug smile take up residence on the angular features of his face. "Well, you initialed the slides, Doc. You always check and initial the slides. Not my problem if you've screwed up and somehow mislabled them."

"I didn't label the slides, that was your job."

"So a few slides were labelled wrong. We'll just peel 'em off and put new slides on. Alright?" he shrugged, his tone dismissive of her as if he'd already heard enough from her.

"Oh no, you won't!" Maura snapped, feeling her blood pressure steadily rising. "Hasn't it sunk in yet? The Mason case may be a natural death at first appearance, but what appears as a natural death at autopsy may in fact be murder. We'd only ever know that if the samples I sent off for testing either outright confirmed cause of death, or threw up more questions, but we couldn't even be sure then because we'd never know if we had the right specimens tested in the first place, thanks to you and your screw up! I haven't signed off on the Mason case yet, so officially cause of death is still undetermined and we could be dealing with a homicide. Do you have any idea how serious this is? Court cases will be questioned, the integrity and hard work of my staff will be put under a microsope and convictions going back years may be compromised because of this. Somebody somewhere could have their attorney exploit a situation like this, a killer could walk free all because of your mistake."

"What?" he paled at this, knowing now why she'd looked at him with a homicidally tinged expression the moment he'd asserted that the Mason case could be ruled as a natural death.

"You heard me. We can't be sure the actual slides belong to Mr Mason." Maura had begun to pace back and forth in agitation, and when she quickly realised that she was mimicing Jane's movements too, she forced herself to stand still. She didn't want Jake to think she wasn't in fully and completely in control and fidgeting while she paced back and forth would certainly convey that impression.

"Can't we just DNA test them or something?" he shrugged, desperately trying to find a way to drag himself out of the mess he'd created as he slid down off the counter and subtly started inching toward the door.

"DNA testing is too expensive and will take too long to retest all of these specimens. What are you going to do? Retest thousands of slides? It simply isn't practical."

"Beg your pardon?" his face went even paler than before at the mention of thousands of slides. It couldn't be that bad surely?

"How do you know that you haven't made this error in other cases?" Maura threw the file she'd been holding onto the nearest autopsy table, the cardboard slapping the metal surface loudly, causing him to jump as she began pacing back and forth again, being too angry to stand still. "How do we know that we've convicted the right people? Or even missed out on a conviction because vital evidence has been missed due to this kind of error?"

"I don't know." He shrugged, looking down at the floor again and wishing he hadn't gotten out of bed that morning.

"Well, if you're the one labeling the slides and you don't know, we're all in deep trouble." Maura raised both hands in the air before allowing them to fall to her thighs with a thud.

"You initial them, so you're supposed to check them." Bannerman moved back to that line of thought again, realising that if he was smart about it, he could fully exploit it to his advantage.

"And I do, when I work alone, when they're my cases and where appropriate. We handle hundreds of cases every month, I can't personally oversee every single one of them, especially when they're not my autopsies." Maura had an idea where he was heading with this one and barely held down on the urge to wrap her hands around his throat. She knew that if Jane was in her place, the woman would have done it already.

"Unfortunately for you, they're your cases." He said with a sudden grin, thinking he'd finally found an out. "I'm sorry, Doc, but if you screwed up, there's no pinning it on me. Guess you're gonna have to take the responsibility yourself on this one. Your case, your screw up. I don't appreciate you trying to blame this on me."

"there's no way you're dragging me down with you," Maura warned him with a stern look. "Unfortunately for you, Mr Mason wasn't my case. He was Doctor O"Malley's case. The Jefferson Family is my case, and the only thing those autopsies have in common with Doctor O'Malley's autopsy is that we both had you assisting us that day and it was your job to label all of the slides and the sample containers."

"I, uh, I don't exactly remember. I guess I'd have to check the relevant paperwork for those days."

"You know as well as I do that you are listed as having worked both cases. I had to reprimand you on both occasions because your tardiness meant Doctor O'Malley couldn't start his autopsy as scheduled and he was late for an important court case he was testifying in. You also outright forgot that I had told you to assist me. I had to send another lab technician to haul you off a lunch break you weren't scheduled for because you'd forgotten."

He shrugged, realising right about then that it would be more prudent to keep his mouth shut than to keep digging a hole for himself.

"So tell me, Jake. How did you manage to screw up? Did you actually label the samples at the time or did you just collect them up into a pile and label them later on so that you could spend time flirting in the trace lab with Sarah under the guise of working?" Maura felt her breathing speed up, she didn't work on assumptions, or guesses, but she did know that he spent a lot of time with Sarah and their body language was often flirty. She had made a leap yes, she didn't have any proof, but it was what Jane would have done. Jane would have followed her gut instinct and said it, and it would have paid off for her. Maura waited patiently to see whether it would pay off for her now.

When Maura saw the guilty expression on his face as it flushed with embarassment, she knew that was exactly what had happened.

Usually, it was standard practice to print out the sheets of labels generated for the autopsy with the victim's name, case number and type of specimen listed on them so that they could be peeled off and adhered to the correct container used for specimen collection. During the Jefferson autopsies, she had had Bannerman assist her where she would usually work alone if she could. Working alone was usually her preference, her meticulous system honed from years of repitition and advance planning. Unfortunately, on the day of the Jefferson homicides, she had at least three other active homicides to work on and knew that the workload was too much even for her. Maura regretted having asked Bannerman for his assistance, wishing that Jane had been available to help her as she sometimes would if she wasn't busy but that day, the detective had been swamped with work of her own.

"Like I said," his cocky attitude was back, but this time Maura could tell it was forced, "you initialed the labels, therefore you authorised what slides they were on. I carried out my duties with good faith and if you've somehow screwed up the..."

"I didn't screw anything up! Those slides were your responsibility, all you had to do was label them correctly and then mount the organ samples as I took them. All of the preparation should have taken place before the autopsy began. You should know that, Jake, its your job to know that."

"You should have checked that I did." He'd made it to the door and pushed it open, half stepping out into the hall as if to tell her that their conversation was over.

"You're supposedly a fully qualified autopsy technician, I shouldn't have to check your every move, not on such a simple matter. I shouldn't have to chase you around the labs because I need to check the quality of your work. I shouldn't have to ensure that you're doing your work exactly when it should be done, and not sitting in a lab flirting with another member of staff whilst you're not paying attention to what you're doing with very sensitive material from active homicide investigations." Maura knew this to be true and was determined to make sure that Bannerman didn't wriggle out of it.

"The buck stops with you. I was overworked that day, I was stressed. The job is stressful; working for you can sometimes be hell." He started down the avenue he was sure would dig him out of the very large hole he now found himself in. "You might not be aware of it, but a lot of us are intimidated by you. You place your staff under a lot of pressure. It isn't my fault if you create that kind of work environment and then wonder why your staff find it tough to deal with."

Maura had to grab onto the edge of the autopsy table to restrain herself from launching her body across the autopsy table and physically throttling him. Perhaps she was channeling Jane a little too much. "Which would be a defence if it were actually true, but it isn't. I have never had any complaints from a member of staff before, my record is complaint free. There have been no disciplinary actions leveled against me, not from the Massachusetts State Medical Examiner System or any of the other five State Medical Examiner Systems I have worked under."

"Well, maybe they were just too afraid to say anything. Some of us are afraid for our careers if we speak out."

"There's no need to be afraid, Jake. There is a complaints system put in place to prevent that very thing from happening. If you feel you have a genuine reason to make a complaint, please feel free to do so. However, your body language tells me that you don't in fact have a genuine reason to complain. You were fidgeting and you were touching your nose. Not to mention that you're right-handed, which meants that when your eyes were moving to the right, you weren't remembering, you were creating. Your eyes should have moved to the left. You're sweating, you won't hold eye contact with me and you're shuffling your feet. I'm trained in facial profiling analysis, its my job to know these things."

"Look, what do you want me to do?" his tone was only slightly less hostile than before, having worked out by now that unless he started working with her, instead of against her, then maybe there could be some damage limitation.

"I'd really love for you to clean out your locker, but we all know I'd have to have a letter from the President to get rid of you. What we're going to do, is destroy the slides from both cases, and we'll have to take new samples. We have to cancel all pending lab tests and order a re-test with the new samples. I want the Jefferson bodies brought out, and I want Jonathan Mason's body, too. What we're going to do is take new slides from each body, and we're going to label them together and double check everything is as it should be. When that's done, I have work to do on the William's case and you..." she fought the urge to tell him that he could go to hell, "you, can get started on checking all slides in storage that you've worked on for the six months that you've been employed here. Ask Laura Skopac and Reggie Jackson to help you out. I want Senior Criminalist Chang to supervise the three of you, and all of your work. I advise you to do as she tells you, she's very busy and she doesn't suffer fools gladly."

"What?! That's thousands of specimens..." his mouth fell open, his face slack as he realised just how much work was involved and how much those mistakes had really screwed up his day. "Shit."

"Yes, so you better get to work." Maura shot him a disgusted look and waited for him to say something, even if it was just to apologize. When he didn't, she threw her hands up in the air, still annoyed with him. "That's all you have to say? No apology or even a proper explanation for what you've done? This is serious for goodness sake!"

"Look, Doc, you can keep harping on about this all day, but it doesn't change the fact that we screwed up."

"No, _you_ screwed up, and I'll be submitting a report to that effect. I'll also want a report from you on these cases and any other cases that have been compromised and then I'll proceed from there with regards to the ramifications of any mistakes you have made. After you're finished here today, you can go home and remain there until informed otherwise. I'll be formally suspending you pending an investigation and its outcome."

"With respect Doc, that's bullshit!" he was angry and it showed, as he slapped the glass door with an open palm in a fit of temper. "There's no way you have the authority to do that and even if you did, you can't treat people like that."

"With respect, you're not qualified to lecture me on anything. I'd also appreciate it if you toned down your temper. Now, you've been told what I want you to do, and if you're not willing to do that then let me know now, because I can save a lot of time and just fire you here and now and worry about all of the red tape that will come with it later."

"Whatever!" he snarled before walking out, kicking a gurney that was parked up against the wall as he went.

Maura took a deep breath and clicked off the microphone above her head that she routinely used for autopsies when she was recording her findings. She then crossed to the video camera and stopped the recording, saving the audio and video files under a secure password the same way she always did. Maura had a feeling she hadn't heard the last of Bannerman and as Jane would put it, she was 'covering her own ass'.

* * *

**Hmm If I were Bannerman, I'd watch out for one very pissed off Detective. Mind you, Maura wasn't exactly calm was she? Nothing I like better than a pissed off Maura Isles in black scrubs and...ahem *whistles innocently* **

**If you got this far and your eyeballs are still working, thank you very much for reading. I really appreciate it, and I hope you enjoyed it :-) **


	5. Chapter 5

**The characters of Rizzoli and Isles do not belong to me. They belong to the folks at TNT, Janet Tamaro, Tess Gerritsen and to Sasha Alexander and Angie Harmon. Absolutely no copyright infringment is intended, I write for entertainment purposes and not for profit.**

**A/N: Hello again! Here's the latest update for you all. It's a fairly lengthy one at almost ten and a half thousand words, but there's a lot going on in there. This is where everything starts speeding up a little now. There's a lot going into the mix, we'll have humour, angst, a few tears, a few villains, and probably a few wtf!s along the way lol. But don't worry, it all turns out in the end ;)**

**Pretty much have the rest of the story sketched roughly now, it's just a case of fleshing it all out and adding the scenes as I go, with lots of editing because this story has changed beyond all recognition with regards to the plot I originally decided on. But, that's the fun part, it always turns out differently than you expected. As for the next chapter, I have a rough outline of what I want to write and I'll try and get it done as soon as I possibly can. **

**Before I let you get started, I'd just like to say a big thank you to oddsox823, Detective Marx, gleeklover527, BerBer1684 and anniwndrrr for kindly reviewing the last chapter. I'd like to thank everybody else who read, followed, favourited and so on. I appreciate it very much. **

**All mistakes, grammatical or otherwise are mine and I've done my best to catch them all so please forgive me if you spot an error.**

**Enjoy :) **

* * *

**Chapter 5**

_Saturday December 22__nd_

Jane hummed quietly as she poured coffee and carried it carefully across the room, before depositing a cup on Korsak's desk. He nodded his thanks, a slight smile on his face that didn't quite reach his eyes; eyes that were cloudy with something that Jane couldn't quite identify. That was the problem with Korsak; Jane had learnt over the years that he sometimes had a tendency to retreat into himself for a few days when he was dealing with something personal he wasn't sure how to solve. There had been many times back when they were partners that he'd closed himself off from her, and on those occasions, Jane had had to wait patiently for him to come around and talk to her about it. Years back, Jane had been young and in awe of his rank and she hadn't overstepped what she saw as their personal boundaries. But these days, they knew each other too well not to push the issue with one another. Besides, patience might have been a virtue, but it wasn't a virtue that Jane was overly blessed with.

She wondered momentarily if something had gone wrong between him and Angela, but quickly discarded that thought. Her mother had seemed entirely too cheerful that morning for there to have been a problem. Therefore, it had to be something else and judging by the look on she'd seen on Cavanaugh's face earlier that morning when she'd had arrived for work, it didn't take a genius to figure out that there might be a connection.

"Doin' okay there, partner?" Jane asked softly, feeling the familiar affection for a man she'd known for over half of her life. They'd been through so much together, as partners as well as friends, and lately, he'd felt like more of a father to her than her own. She couldn't help worrying about him. Jane was sure she always would.

"Huh?" He blinked up at her, momentarily confused before he nodded and then smiled at her. "Oh, I'm fine, thanks."

"Cavanaugh on your ass about the case?"

"Nothing I can't handle. Don't worry about me, Janie." He waved her off with a gruff clearing of his throat, looking down at his desk self-consciously, the remnants of his smile still tugging at his eyes.

"Don't let him rattle you," Jane advised, knowing that it was the same advice he would have offered to her if she were in his place. It was scary sometimes just how alike they could be. "There's plenty to smile about, right? In fact, I'd say you've got a lot to be pretty happy about right now."

He beamed then, the smile finally reaching his eyes, his eyes slightly less guarded than they had been before. "There does seem to be a lot of it going around. I could say the same to you, kiddo."

"I neither confirm nor deny," Jane chuckled in response, marvelling at how all of this was much easier than she had ever built it up to be in her imagination. This man was her friend, her family, and he'd been among those she'd always been scared of losing if he ever couldn't come to terms with the realisation that she'd fallen in love with another woman, with Maura. And yet right along with her mother, he loved and accepted her for who she was and Jane knew she would always love him for that. She only hoped that everybody else would be as accepting of her relationship with Maura as Korsak and Angela had been.

"You don't have to Jane, it's written all over your face. 'Bout damn time is all I can say." He then waved her off with a mock scowl. "Speakin' of which...better get some work done before Cavanaugh starts climbing all over your ass too."

Jane nodded in reply and headed back to her own desk, placing the second cup of coffee she was carrying on Frost's desk. She caught the questioning look on Frost's face in response to her having made him coffee without complaining about it, and merely smiled back at him, knowing he was looking for gossip to go scurrying to Korsak with. Jane had the sneaking suspicion that Frost already knew that she and Maura were a couple. He'd probably spent at least half an hour gossiping about her love life like an old woman over a box of doughnuts with Korsak that morning, and was probably just waiting for official confirmation.

Jane rolled her eyes internally. What was wrong with these people? It was like one big gossip session any time a member of the group did something new or out of the ordinary. Jane was certain of the fact that Angela would have been on the phone to Korsak the minute Maura had left the house for work, so she could tell him the news. She was also certain that by now, Frankie and Tommy would know, as well as Carla Tallucci, Angela's cousin Teresa, and anybody else in the United States, and possibly even abroad, that had even a vague familial tie to the Rizzoli clan. Shaking her head in amazement, she realised that her mother was more effective than CNN. She couldn't have spread the news any faster than if she'd taken a front page ad out in the Boston Globe.

The relationship wasn't even yet twenty-fours old. She'd had conversations with Maura that had lasted longer than they'd been together, and her mother had already shot them out of the closet with a rainbow cannon. Usually, her first instinct would have been to get angry with Angela for sticking her nose into her business, but as far as Jane was concerned, seeing as how her mother had managed to tell everyone in the English and Italian speaking world that she was shacking up with Maura, it meant she wouldn't have to. She wouldn't have to endure the whispers, the questions, and perhaps the outright hostility from some people in her family, and for allowing her to escape that alone, her mother was a saint. Not that Jane was fooled into thinking Angela had honourable intentions; the woman just couldn't hold her own water as regards family gossip but at least her heart was in the right place.

Jane could imagine exactly what had happened the minute she had closed Maura's front door behind her; her mother and her girlfriend would have immediately huddled together and had a mutual squealing session over the fact that somebody had finally managed to get Jane Rizzoli into a serious relationship. This thought made her smile widen further. She had never desired to be tied down, to be married, or to have kids, but if Maura announced tomorrow that they were getting married, having babies and she was going to be kept chained to the house for the next fifty years, she'd have jumped for joy. All of the things she never thought she'd wanted now seemed like less of a thing to be feared and more of an indication that both she and Maura had a bright future together with the promise of many wonderful things to come. That thought alone was enough to make her heart skip a beat as a colony of butterflies took up residence in her stomach.

"You're happy today," Frost grinned widely at her. "I wonder why that is."

"I just heard that Mr Ed is trying to find you. He wants his teeth back," Jane said dryly, as she shuffled through the paperwork on her desk.

"Very amusing, Rizzoli. I guess I never realised how funny you are actually are. I've been busy trying to imagine you with a personality." His shoulders shook with mirth as Jane narrowed her eyes at him.

"Did you know, Frost, that when somebody pisses you off, it takes forty-two muscles to frown? Fortunately, it only takes four muscles to extend your arm and smack 'em in the head!" The famous Rizzoli eyebrow rose toward her hairline as the look on her face became fiendish.

Frost burst out laughing and held his hands up in a placatory manner. "Okay, okay, you win. Speaking of good moods, why isn't Cavanaugh in one? He's been screaming at everyone who stands still long enough this morning. He's even dragged Korsak into his office twice."

"Why?" Jane was suddenly alert. That must have definitely been why Korsak's mood was off. "What for?"

"Says we're not making enough progress on the Jefferson case." Frost was cut short when a shout of rage from Cavanaugh's office startled everyone who was in earshot. "Damn! I wouldn't want to be the person on the receiving end of that."

Jane nodded her agreement, watching as Cavanaugh's face turned red, pacing around his office and gesticulating angrily as he shouted at whoever was on the other end of the phone. "Gonna be a fun day in the office if that's the kind of mood he's in. Ooh, head down, he's looking this way. Don't want to get caught fraternising during office hours."

Frost quickly nodded and picked up a file, pointing to it as if they'd been discussing their cases. "You don't think he's pissed about your Mom and Korsak dating do you?"

"Jeez, you knew too? Is there anybody on the planet that didn't know?"

"Bit like you and Maura," Frost winked at her. "Set a date for the wedding yet?"

"Not yet. We were waiting until we could ask you to be Chief Bridesmaid, Barrold." She chuckled as he scowled at her and went back to clicking away on his computer with a flounce.

Deciding she needed to get some work done herself, she wiggled her mouse to clear the screensaver and clicked on her e-mail icon. Sorting through the usual ads for Viagra, slimming pills and invites to dating sites that always seemed to end up in her inbox instead of the spam folder, she spotted an e-mail from Maura and practically fan-girled right there on the spot.

**To: ****J. Rizzoli at bpd. mass. gov**  


**From: Dr. M. Isles at ocme. mass. gov**

**Subject: Quote of the Day**

**Sent: 12/22/12 7:30AM**

'_Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.' – Albert Einstein_

_I like his way of thinking. I've let my imagination run wild several times this morning and I've done everything from kissing you on a beach at sunset to making love to you on top of a mountain. Thank you for being the reason I now have the strength and the love to let my imagination run free, so that I may dream. _

_I love you so much, Jane._

_Maura xx_

Jane felt tears prickle behind her eyelids and tried hard not to let them loose. She took a deep breath and wondered why she had been so emotional lately, because it really wasn't like her. But then again, she'd never been in love like this before, either. Besides hearing words like those coming from Maura was something that Jane couldn't nail down to a single emotion even if she tried. She knew all about Maura's childhood, the indifference of her parents, the bullying at school, the ill treatment by various boyfriends and the abandonment of her by her biological parents. So to be told that she was the reason that Maura had now found a reason to dream, was something that couldn't be named, but Jane was sure that it never should be, because it felt so wonderful to experience that it didn't need a label. It was enough to be able to feel it, and know that Maura felt it in return. It was also wonderful to know that Maura could reach right inside of her, take everything that was so jumbled up and somehow be that part of her where everything made sense.

**To: ****Dr. M. Isles at ocme. mass. gov**  


**From: J. Rizzoli at bpd. mass. gov  
**

**Subject: Re: Quote of the Day**

"_You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." – Dr. Seuss_

_I spent so long dreaming about you, that I never thought it would happen and now that it has, I never want to fall asleep again because I don't want to waste another second without you._

_I hope that this is just the start of a lifetime's worth of dreams coming true for us both. I've never been great with words, Maura, but with you, I've never had to be because you've never wanted to change me, you've always accepted me for who I am. You were the only person who ever cared enough to find your way to my heart and from the day I felt your presence there, it's belonged to you ever since._

_I have always loved you. I will always love you, with every single beat of my heart. _

_Jane xx_

Less than two minutes after Jane had clicked the 'send' button, her cell phone began ringing and she snatched it from her belt. "Rizzoli."

"How do you always know the right thing to say?" Maura gasped, tears present in her voice along with a smile.

"It isn't hard sweetheart. You're very easy to say something nice about." Jane felt her heart swell with pride at being so connected with the woman on the other end of the phone. She could barely sit still, the entire thing making her restless with the overwhelming need to express how she was feeling, which was something else that was entirely out of character for her. "You know I love you, right?"

"I do, and I love you too. Thank you for your e-mail, it made me smile when I needed it most. My day has rapidly gone downhill."

"Why baby, what's wrong?" Jane abandoned fiddling with her paperwork in the vain attempt to appear busy and leaned back in her chair, giving Maura her full attention.

Maura proceeded to fill her in on a quick version of her morning thus far, pausing only to draw frustrated breaths before she felt her anger slowly dissipating at being able to talk to Jane about the situation. "Suzy's busy supervising Jake now, but I think she wants to kill him as much as I did."

"I'm really proud of you," Jane said as Maura mumbled a reply on the other end. "Don't mumble, Maur', I really am proud of you. You dealt with him exactly how you should've and you covered your ass by getting video and audio evidence of your conversation with him. You're starting to think like a cop, Maura, you did good."

"Well."

"It's a hole people dig so they can get water." Jane snickered as she heard refined curses on the other end. "Come on, take a compliment. You're good at your job, and don't let anybody tell you otherwise. Bannerman is the biggest asshole on my radar at the moment, so if you hear screaming, bring a suture kit, a sling and some leg splints because I'm gonna rip his limbs off and hit him with the soggy bits."

"Should I be so turned on by that?" Maura's voice had dropped an octave and Jane felt the tingling at the bottom of her spine begin to radiate outwards.

"Hell if I know but if it makes your clothes fly off faster, I'll roll with it," Jane said with a laugh, flinging a ball of paper across the desk at Frost when he started giggling. "Is there anything I can do?"

"All in hand, honey, but I'll be up to see you in half an hour, so I'm sure that will make me feel better."

"I look forward to it. See you soon, Maur'." Jane husked before clicking the phone off and pointedly ignoring Frost who was fanning his face dramatically and making exaggerated 'mhmm' noises.

Jane tried to get her mind back on work but it was impossible, she was too worried about Maura to concentrate. If the incident had happened several days prior, she would have been angry and initially taken it out on Maura without a second thought before common sense kicked in and made her think rationally about the situation. But now, her first thougth wasn't about the case, or about work in general, but about Maura and how she was coping with it all. The magnitude of the situation had immediately impressed itself upon her by the worried tone of Maura's voice. It put Jane in the unprecedented position of wanting to solve Maura's problems for her; she wanted to shield the Doctor from everything whilst she took the hits coming Maura's way. She'd never before contemplated doing that, knowing she would never get in the way of Maura's career. But it made her realise that what she thought had been a desire to protect Maura before, was nothing close to the current level of protectiveness she felt over the blonde. Jane would quite happily have kicked Bannerman halfway across Boston, but she knew Maura would never allow that, so for the moment, fantasies of shoving her boot up his ass would have to suffice.

That was until Cavanaugh ripped his office door open and entered the bullpen like a bear with a sore head, looking intent on kicking her ass instead. She winced as he bellowed across the room and began giving orders to those few detectives still hanging around who didn't have any active cases. She wished she was one of them as he eyed the huge stack of paperwork on her desk, from several as of yet unsolved homicides, accusingly.

"Korsak, stop fiddling about with that damn thing! If you spent as much time chasing crooks as you did giggling at puppies over the internet, we might get somewhere! You three, my office, now!" he screamed, as he pointed to Korsak, and then Frost and Jane.

"Asshole," Frost muttered under his breath, immediately bristling at the Lieutenant's attitude and Korsak's resulting sad look.

"I heard about the clusterfuck downstairs," Cavanaugh immediately grumbled as Korsak, who was the last to enter the office, closed the door behind him. "I had Doctor Isles on the phone telling me about some mix up with organ samples. I take it you know about it, Rizzoli? What am I saying? Of course you know; you two are joined at the hip."

Jane bit her tongue, knowing now that he had been screaming at Maura and she felt something she had never felt towards him before; she instantly wanted to grab him and rip his balls off for talking to her girlfriend that way. But for the moment, she resisted saying anything in retaliation and leaned against the wall, preferring to stand while Frost and Korsak each took a chair. "Yeah, Doctor Isles informed me about the problem. Bannerman fucked up; no big surprises there."

"He the kid that's related to Carrington?" Cavanaugh pulled a face. His dislike for James Carrington, the Director of the Forensic Services Division, was well-documented, and the feeling was mutual by all accounts since rumour had it that Carrington could barely spend more than five minutes in the room with the Lieutenant, either. Right now, Jane wasn't sure which one of them she disliked more.

"It's his cousin's kid or something," Jane shrugged, not caring who he was related to, because it was a foregone conclusion that he'd be kicked out on his ass no matter what Carrington thought. "I don't know all of the details yet. I've only heard the shortened version but I'm sure that Doctor Isles will keep us all up to date."

"I bet," Cavanaugh said sarcastically, looking as if something nasty had landed on his shoe.

Jane tried to keep a lid on her temper, knowing that if she opened her mouth, he could very likely have her spending Christmas filling out speeding tickets, but she wasn't about to let it slide either. "With respect, sir, this situation isn't Doctor Isles' fault. Nor is it ours and I'm not quite sure that I like your tone concerning the matter."

"Whatever tone I choose to use is none of your damn business, Rizzoli, and I'll remind you that I outrank you, so if you want to carry on, be my guest but when all three of you are busted back down to patrol, there'll only be yourselves to blame." His face was puce, the vein in his forehead throbbing faster with each word he uttered. His glares were notorious around BPD, but Jane didn't scare easily, wasn't intimidated by such tactics.

"Sean, come on," Korsak said quietly, almost pleadingly, to the man he'd been friends with for most of their career. "Everybody is on the same side here. We're all trying to do our best, but sometimes, these things happen. Doctor Isles didn't do this, she's just trying to do the best she can to solve the problem and we're all trying to work with what we got. Why is there such a rush on this? Is there something going on that we don't know about?"

Jane knew without a doubt this was about more than just the case; she knew that Korsak was referring to something else, too. Instinctively knew that the cause of the friction was Angela.

"When I want your opinion, Korsak, I'll give it to ya." Cavanaugh ignored the question, and couldn't quite meet Korsak's eyes and Jane's suspicions on two separate issues were confirmed. Cavanaugh was pissed off that Korsak was dating Angela, and, he was hiding something about the case they weren't privy to. Just what it was, Jane didn't know, but she intended to find out.

"Frost, Korsak, give me a minute alone with the Lieutenant, please?" Jane saw Korsak shoot her a warning look as he stood up, but she wasn't to be deterred. Waiting until the door closed, she took a seat in front of Cavanaugh's desk and looked him square in the eye. "Look, sir, I'm really sorry about how things turned out with you and Ma. I know it didn't have the outcome that you wanted, but you gotta let it go. Screaming at me, or Frost, or Korsak or the rest of homicide isn't going to do a damn thing except create disharmony were there was none. It won't help morale any. And while we're at it, if I ever hear you screaming at Maura like that again, I'll file a complaint. That's just to start with professionally.

Privately, you'd be in a world of shit. I love that woman more than life itself and if I ever hear you speak to her like that again, or disrespect her the way you did, then you won't have to worry about not dating my mother anymore, it'll be me you gotta worry about. That being said, I don't want to fall out with you over this, we've always had respect for each other and we've always worked well together and I don't want you to feel like you're out in the cold. We're all a family here and we look out for our own and we'll do anything we can to help, so long as you don't keep pushing us all away. Life sucks sometimes, I know that better than anybody, but you have to move on."

"How dare you? This has absolutely nothing to do with my private life and I'll thank you to keep your nose out of my business." His face flushed bright red, his mood livid.

"It involves my mother and Maura, so it is my business. You couldn't expect Ma to wait for you forever, and you can't punish Korsak because he's got a shot with her. Out of respect for you, they kept it quiet, they didn't even tell me or my brothers. You've been friends with Korsak a long time, and you've known Ma for years. They've both been through a lot of shit; don't make them suffer any more than they already have. I know things aren't easy for you, sir, and I'm sorry for that, I wish I could change it but that doesn't justify making everybody else miserable."

Cavanaugh seemed to mull over her words for several seconds and then decided to move on. "Where are you on the Jefferson case?"

"No further forward than before." Jane went with the change of subject. "We're going to have to wait for any further information until the new tests are run. All of the results had come back already and Maura had completed the autopsy. It was just a matter of her taking another look at the bodies for me but now the original results have been called into question, we need to re-examine everything. Thankfully, Maura has a policy of never releasing a body until she's a hundred percent sure that she can't learn any more from it and has the required amount of samples. Fact is, there was nothing to find. Officially, it's a waiting game thanks to Bannerman, but I suspect that when the second round of results comes in, they won't yield any answers beyond what we already thought we knew."

"What's you next course of action as far as the investigative side goes?"

"I'll be assigning Frost to the task of bringing Zachary Dennison in for further questioning, whilst Korsak and I pick up Chad Jefferson. That's as much as we've got right now. Nobody else in the neighbourhood witnessed or heard anything suspicious. Extensive enquiries among relatives, colleagues, and friends of the Jefferson family has given us exactly nothing. Look, I certainly don't want to overstep my boundaries any more than I already have today, Lieutenant, but there's something you're not telling us. Out of all the active homicides this department is investigating, why are the Jefferson murders under a spotlight? Why not the brutal rape and murder of two elderly sisters in their own home, or the teenage boy who was beaten beyond all recognition for his cell phone and died alone in an alley? They're all important, so why the extra pressure to get a conviction on the Jeffersons' case beyond the obvious?"

Cavanaugh refused to meet her eyes and began rearranging papers. "I wouldn't concern yourself with that Rizzoli."

Jane leaned back in her chair. "Which asshole is putting pressure on the department this time? Because that's usually how this works, right?"

Cavanaugh glanced up at her, realising she was far too astute for her own good and blew out a heavy breath before rubbing his hands over his face. "John McGovern, local businessman, aspiring politician and all round douche-bag, is preparing to run for Senator. He needs all the money he can get to help with his campaign. Rumour has it that he sunk a lot of money into a joint venture with Gary Jefferson, and is now panicking about what will happen to his investment. That's the official version. The unofficial version is that McGovern is being quietly investigated for tax fraud and one or two other things that have since come to light concerning his shady business dealings."

"Oh fuck," Jane growled, sinking lower in her chair. "The FBI are involved, aren't they?"

"Yes."

"And you weren't going to tell us? How come I haven't had the Feds climbing all over this yet?"

"They're happy to wait in the background and let you do your thing. If it turns out that the Jefferson murders are connected to McGovern somehow, you can bet we'll lose the case to the FBI."

"How are the two men connected?"

"We think Gary Jefferson met McGovern at the Country Club, they're both avid golf players, as are a few members of the brass that McGovern has been leaning on to ensure they get a quick conclusion to the case. Which in turn, means they're leaning heavily on me, as are the Feds, and I can't get shit done without somebody wantin' a report on every single move my department makes. McGovern isn't happy that Jefferson's accounts have been frozen and his assets seized until we can either bring a case against his son, or cut him loose as a suspect."

"How did you get access to his financial records? I had a verbal sparring match with the bank manager when I served him the warrant. He still hasn't gotten back to me yet."

"You can thank the Feds for that; they were the ones who seized control of his accounts. They don't want to tip their hand too early, but the investigation hasn't really been going as smoothly as they'd hoped."

"No shit," Jane's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Anyway, McGovern assumed BPD have frozen Jefferson's accounts and we haven't told him any differently. McGovern had a lot of money tied up in some internet business that Jefferson was screwing around with and the word is that McGovern wants his money back because he suspects the IRS is sniffing around. Little does he know it's an FBI task force."

"We can't rush the investigation for the sake of some asshole who cares more about his investment than he does about a family being brutally murdered. I will not bow to political pressure on an investigation and I'll go on record saying exactly that if I have to. And you should have told us about this; we should have been made aware that you and the FBI were pulling strings from the behind the scenes."

Cavanaugh pointedly ignored her statement and leaned back in her chair. "We couldn't rush even if we tried. All of the samples are screwed up; we don't got shit and Doctor Isles is wavin' about in the dark because forensically speakin' she don't got shit either."

Jane bristled, but knew it was factually true and so did Maura. "Nobody can be a hundred percent sure about anything, that's why she's gathering new samples as we speak, and she'll make sure she does a retest as soon as possible. To be completely honest though, sir, if there's a key to solving this case, Doctor Isles will find it."

"Yeah, well, she should have figured it out already."

"Maybe there wasn't anything there to find in the first place, and even if there was, you have Bannerman to thank for making her job and our case that much harder," Jane said as she stood up, intent on putting an end to the discussion before it blew up, knowing that Cavanaugh still appeared to be spoiling for a fight. "It's a difficult situation and we're all just trying to make the best of it, but I trust Maura, she's a professional."

"You have to say that, you're sleeping with her," He snapped, picking up a nearby file and throwing it onto a pile that wobbled precariously.

"With respect Lieutenant, that's none of your damn business! For the record, I'll state that Maura and I are in a relationship, but it's only been a recent development. When the relationship becomes sexual, she and I will make sure we take the proper precautions to maintain professionalism. But it isn't against departmental rules for us to date, so long as we declare the relationship so that any conflict of interest can be avoided. Maura and I have worked together long enough that our integrity shouldn't be called into question, at least not in a way that will damage the department or our careers and if there's ever a chance that will happen, then Maura and I will find a way around it. As for anything else, its none of your business what Maura and I get up to in our private lives. I get that you're bitter about Ma breaking up with you, and believe me, we all know how much that must hurt, and we want to be supportive of you and your feelings, but quite frankly if you were serious about her then you'd have tried a little harder to work around your issues and that's not something you can blame anybody else for. Now, if that's all sir, then I've got work to do."

Jane didn't wait for a response and closed his door behind her gently, foregoing being able to slam it the way she wanted to, knowing he didn't need any further reasons to set him off.

* * *

Korsak eyed her curiously as she left Cavanaugh's office and approached his desk. He could see by the paleness of her features and the tight set of her lips that whatever Cavanaugh had said, she didn't much like it. He'd worn a similar expression earlier on in the morning when Cavanaugh had torn him a new one over the newly released crime figures, as if he was the only sergeant, or indeed detective in the homicide division. He saw Jane make a beeline for his desk and sent her a questioning look as she took a seat on his desk.

"Stay out of his way for a while. He's pissed about you and Ma dating."

Korsak's face went bright red and began stuttering as he tried to reply. It was completely different Jane directly mentioning it than it was being ambiguously joked about. "Jane, uh...that's..."

"Korsak, come off it, man.' Jane's amusement was immediately obvious in the way she looked at him, her brown eyes twinkling. "Admit, you've been found out. You guys aren't as discreet as you think you are. It's been going on for weeks, but you know what? I'm happy for you guys. All I ask is that you don't hurt each other, because I love you both and I don't wanna see anyone hurt."

Korsak grinned suddenly as Jane winked at him. "Guess we aren't the only ones with news, huh? Suppose I should warn you and the Doc not to hurt each other because I love you both, too. Oh and Janie? Maura's got you goin' soft."

"Up yours, Korsak. The only difference is, old man, I figured all of this out on my own. You, on the other hand, found out via Ma this morning after she called you to tell you that I laid one on Maura before leaving for work," Jane chuckled as Korsak grinned wickedly.

"That may be true, but we've all known for years you two were crazy about each other."

"Maura's always driven me crazy, but now I get the benefit of driving her nuts and having it pay off in the nicest way imaginable," Jane said with a laugh. "Listen, we need to talk later."

"Geez, I'm not going to get the whole 'hurt my Ma and you're dead' speech am I?"

"Luckily for you, no. It's about the Jefferson case, Cavanaugh's just dropped a few bombs. I'll tell you about it later." She made her way back to her desk, as Korsak nodded and trotted off to the coffee shop to see Angela, to warn her about Jane's run-in with Cavanaugh.

Jane watched him go with a fond smile. The situation might not have been ideal, she'd have preferred for her parents to still be married but there was never any chance of that happening and Korsak was a good man. He'd been a good partner and a good friend and if she'd had to pick a suitable man for her mother, he would probably have been her first choice. Not that she had disliked Cavanaugh, but there had always been something cold, and closed off about the man that she had never felt would be all that compatible with her mother's personality. She now knew why Cavanaugh was closed off; she knew about his personal history and the death of his wife and child. As awful as it sounded, and as cruel as it may be, life had to go on and if he hadn't take the second chance that life had given him, then he had no right to be bitter about the fact that Korsak had grabbed his own chance when Cavanaugh wouldn't.

She sighed heavily and rolled her neck, thinking about the shit-storm that was due to hit, but she was determined to try and be more positive, especially with the holidays approaching and the recent turn of events with Maura. The thought that the constant bickering and teasing had a focus now, made her desperately bite down on another smile that was threatening to break free so that Cavanaugh didn't come barrelling out of his office and start yelling again. He was already pacing and gesticulating as he talked on the phone and she decided it would be as good a time as any to get back to work.

Just as Jane began pondering on the new information as regards the Jefferson case, she was suddenly broken yet again from her thoughts as Detective Crowe and his partner Jacobs entered the room looking smugly self-satisfied. She knew he was just waiting for her to ask why he was in a good mood, but Jane wasn't going to take the bait. Frost on the other hand hadn't quite learned yet that it was always far easier to make Crowe work for his fifteen minutes of fame, or he'd be strutting around for weeks longer than was usually the case.

"What's got you so happy, Crowe?" Frost sent a look in his direction and missed the rolling of the eyes on Jane's part.

"Just managed to pick up a doozie from the abandoned cold case pile," he said, pointing to the filing cabinets that held older cases before they were transferred down into the basement when further investigation was a hopeless task due to lack of evidence.

"Which one?"

"The Morales case. Got a witness who swears he saw a guy leaving Jesús Morales' apartment at around 10pm on the night of the murder. The guy lives across the street and was getting ready to move abroad for a job so he was tossing stuff in the dumpster at the side of his building, and saw the guy hurrying from Morales' building with dark stains on his jeans. He didn't think anything of it until he returned last week and spoke to a neighbour who told him all about the murder. He got in touch with us and it looks like we might be getting somewhere at last. Still, I wouldn't feel too bad about it guys, I know it was your case but hey, I reckon I'll be able to solve it now. I've got a feeling it's going to be a good Christmas." Crowe rubbed his hands together, picked up his overcoat and sauntered out the door as if he owned the place.

Both Jane and Frost shot a disgusted look at his retreating back and resumed work. It was typical of Crowe, letting others do the work and then picking up a cold case without even giving them the courtesy of asking if they minded if he took the case on.

"That's exactly why Christmas can sometimes be annoying, because it's just like a day in this place. You do all the work and some fat guy in a bad suit gets all the credit," Jane said as Frost began snorting with laughter.

"My, aren't we cheery this morning," Maura chirped with a bright smile as she patted Jane on the shoulder. "Lieutenant Cavanaugh still in a bad mood?"

"Hell yeah, dragged us into his office and ripped us a new one. He's gotta get over Ma and Korsak being together and I told him as much."

"I'm so happy for them!" Maura's eyes were alive with happiness, and it made Jane want to scoop the smaller woman up in her arms and kiss her senseless. "Cavanaugh isn't taking it well, then?"

"He resented the hell out of it. Resented the hell out of me ripping him a new one, too, for speaking to you the way he did. He won't do it again, and on the off-chance that he does, he knows I'll be gunning for him. Nobody messes with my girl," Jane said, as Maura's face creased into a beautiful smile.

"Oh, Jane," Maura said, breathlessly, feeling a familiar tugging against her heart at Jane's protectiveness. "Thank you for defending my honour like that. Please, be careful though, I wouldn't want you to be in any trouble with your superiors because of me."

Jane had expected a mini-lecture on overstepping her boundaries and mixing their personal lives with their professional ones but the Maura Isles who was a stickler for the rules had disappeared and in her place was Maura Isles, the romantic, and mushy goofball currently smiling at her predatorily as if she wanted to rip her clothes off and eat her alive. Jane wouldn't have refused. Jane would have provided a napkin and condiments. Preferably strawberries and dipping chocolate and maybe even some whip cream.

"Cavanaugh's in the wrong and he knows it, so don't worry. Speaking of being in the wrong...any chance you can fire Bannerman's ass?" Jane took Maura's hand and directed her to the chair next to her desk and leaned back, crossing her legs as Maura got comfortable.

"I've informed him that once he's done here for today, he's being suspended pending an investigation. The outcome of which is bound to show that he's been negligent in the course of his duties. I won't get to fire him. He'll resign his post and quietly slip away until Carrington finds something else for him to do. I just hope he doesn't contact me for a reference."

"Bannerman's got about as much chance of getting a reference from you, as Bass has of cramming his scaly ass into a pair of tiny Speedos and swimming across the Atlantic."

Maura chuckled as she shook her head. "That's an interesting visual. Did I ever tell you that you're exhibiting signs of delusional psychosis?"

"Maybe once or twice, but since I'm crazy about you, I'm fine with it," Jane said with a wink as she rubbed Maura's thigh gently, wishing that she could touch her properly, feeling an ache in her chest because she couldn't. "How you holding up, honey? You seem to be taking it well but I'm worried about you."

Maura's face yet again graced Jane with another beautiful smile, her eyes shimmering in such a way that always fascinated the detective with their effortless intensity. "So long as I've got you, I can cope with everything else. I read Bannerman the riot act, I've got everybody busy working on it now. Thankfully, it looks as if the error was only contained within those five cases, and I've already collected new samples and resubmitted them for testing. I also gave the Mason and Jefferson bodies another examination and I can't find anything that I didn't find before, but I'm going to keep at it. As soon as I know anything, you'll be the first to know. I do have some news though, as regards the Williams' case."

"Ooh, presents. You have been busy; thank you." Jane rubbed her hands together and gratefully accepted the folder Maura was holding out to her. It was either that or collapse into a dribbling mess at the fact that the woman she had kissed numerous times that morning, and very intimately at that, and indeed the previous night, was sitting less than a foot away and smelt gorgeous. "It is my medical opinion that the blanching on the lateral aspect of the left thigh centred over the Vastus Lateralis... wha? Maura, where's the English version?"

Maura looked up to find deep brown eyes meeting her own, and couldn't help the sensation of butterflies that found its way to her stomach, the same way it always did when a look or a touch from Jane could so easily set her heart racing. Maura wasn't sure now how she'd ever managed to keep her attraction to Jane in check, given that she couldn't seem to get enough of her.

"It means here," Maura said, sliding her hand slowly up the left leg of Jane's black pinstripe pants. Her fingers came to rest in the middle of her thigh, towards the outer edge, as Jane reflexively uncrossed her legs and opened them wider. "Lateral aspect means here, over this, the Vastus Lateralis muscle."

"That makes more sense," Jane said, feeling her thigh muscle twitching in response under Maura's hand, and she knew the Doctor felt it too. Looking up again at sultry hazel eyes, Jane was taken aback by how they'd darkened and seemed impossibly deep. They were pulling her in and she wanted to luxuriate in them for as long as she possibly could. "I'd appreciate that kind of demonstration more often. What if the blanching was on this side?"

Maura's breath hitched, her entire body tingling as Jane slid her hand to the inside of her thigh, feeling the heat of the brunette burning itself into her palm with a dizzying intensity that she had never experienced before. "That's the medial aspect, meaning inner."

She grinned and slid Maura's hand a little higher, stopping just short of the apex of her thighs. Jane could feel her heartbeat pulsating between her legs, the slow burn of her arousal becoming impossibly hotter and she could tell by the look of raw sexual need on Maura's face that she knew exactly what effect it was having on the detective. "And here?"

"That's known as third base, Jane." Maura winked as Jane's face immediately flushed and a dopey grin took up residence. The effect of being so close to where she wanted to be, caused a rush between Maura's thighs and she shuffled in her seat whilst swallowing heavily, knowing that it was taking all of her willpower not to grab Jane's hand and slide the long, slender fingers deep inside her.

"Heh heh!" Jane chuckled, and then leaned back in her chair and chuckled some more, completely forgetting about Cavanaugh, who was pacing around his office like a caged animal.

"What?" by now, Maura was giggling too, and the more Jane laughed, the more Maura couldn't help laughing.

"What's wrong with you two?" Frost looked up from his monitor at them with a confused half-grin on his face.

"Nothing," Jane said as her laughter petered out. "Let's just say that despite all of the bullshit, I'm having a very good day."

Maura leaned forward slightly and lowered her voice to a whisper. "If my touching you makes you so happy, maybe we can try it tonight."

"Depending on what's in this file, you might not even have to wait that long. I might just even repeat exactly what I did to you this morning on the other side," Jane said with a wink as she tried to get her mind back onto the case at hand.

Maura groaned lightly and quickly crossed her legs to stop the roman legion currently marching over her nerve endings. "Good God."

"So, the blanching?" Jane prompted, before she and Maura ended up having noisy sex on her desk; that would definitely piss Cavanaugh off. "What do we know about it? Give it to me in layman's terms, please, because I can't read your report. I don't have the neurons available."

"As you know, post-mortem lividity is caused by blood settling with gravity as it's no longer being pumped around the body." Maura took several sips of Jane's coffee and then cleared her throat, getting into her stride. "Blanching occurs when you press against the lividity and it turns white because you've displaced the blood that has settled at the surface of the skin. Eventually, the blood will seep back until lividity is set unless it is pressed against something, and in which case, if a body has been resting against something for a few hours after death, then the imprint of whatever it was pressing against will remain on the skin. Lividity gets darker over several days, so a faint mark may darken over time, so much so that it's possible to see exactly what has pressed onto the skin. I've had lots of cases where it's possible to see the name of designer brand underwear imprinted on skin around the waist from clothing.

"I'm with you so far, Quincy. Go ahead and blow my socks off, how does that help?" Jane's focus was momentarily taken from Maura as her cell-phone rang. Frowning at the display, she clicked the call off and turned her attention back to Maura again.

"Leah Williams has the distinct imprint of a pattern on her leg that was instantly familiar. The markings were consistent with a sheet of industrial galvanized metal flooring. There were also particles of rust present around the indentations in the skin, along with particles of glass. It's only present on that part of the body because there was a hole in the blanket she was wrapped in. Bill Taylor was the only person with access to that workshop, and he makes glass ornaments. The swabs we collected from the workshop are a match to the trace evidence we found on the victim's thigh. That puts the victim at the scene for several hours after death, and it also incriminates him, because by his own admission, there's only one key to the place and it's his and it never leaves his possession. And if that wasn't enough, I managed to find his partial bloody fingerprint on her patella, it's very faint but enough to provide a match. As you know, we couldn't use Luminol because it would react with the compounds in the metal flooring, however, the Phenolphthalein swabs we took were consistent with human blood being present and although I'm still waiting on DNA results, I think we can reasonably hypothesize that it may turn out as a match for Leah's DNA. I'll know within the next hour or two. And since Bannerman didn't assist with that autopsy, I'm satisfied the results are, and will be, consistent with the evidence that was recovered."

"Okay, so you just solved another murder, but don't think that will get you off the hook." Jane shrugged, pretending to look unimpressed. "The Jefferson case is still pending, after all. What do you do all day besides sit on your ass?"

Maura snorted and thumped Jane on the leg. "If I thought you were being serious, I'd take offence to that."

"I've said this before, but I'm gonna say it again. You, Maura Isles, live up to your reputation as a certified genius!" Jane lowered her voice, seductively. "And, I owe you a kiss."

"When do I get to collect?" Maura's smile was laced with promise and Jane had to struggle to find the willpower to put her suit jacket on in readiness to arrest the suspect and not drag Maura downstairs to her office.

"What are you doing for lunch?"

"Now that you mention it, I feel like eating in my office, with the door closed," Maura winked at the brunette, pleased when Jane's face flushed at the double entendre.

"I'll pick something up on my way back. I might just be able to squeeze you in."

"Squeeze me in anywhere you like. I'm all for trying new things," Maura flirted blatantly knowing it was having the desired effect on the detective.

Jane shook her head with a laugh and began walking away. "You are sheer trouble, Doctor Maura Isles."

"Thank you for noticing!" was the mischievous reply as Maura followed Jane to the elevator. Korsak who had just returned from downstairs, followed, with Frost trailing behind.

"Where are we going?" Korsak asked as he tightened his tie and ran a hand through his hair.

"We're going to arrest Bill Taylor. Maura found evidence linking his workshop to Leah Williams' body. I'll fill you in on the way." Jane moved slightly so that whilst they waited for the elevator, she could be even closer to Maura than she already had been.

The four of them stepped into the elevator and Jane debated whether to reach out to Maura or not. They hadn't exactly discussed whether they were going to tell anyone yet, but her mother, Cavanaugh, Frost and Korsak knew and they hadn't exactly hidden the fact that they had physical contact in the bullpen, so Jane was reasonably sure that Maura wouldn't mind if she did reach out for her. Besides, if Jane was completely honest with herself, this was the first time she'd felt as if she was back to being her old self since everything had happened with Hoyt and she wanted to enjoy it. It hadn't been a sudden change, of that she was aware of, but piece by piece, she'd slotted back into some semblance of her old self and finally being able to admit how she felt about Maura felt like the last puzzle piece slotting into place.

There had always been some part of her locked away, some part that had needed to stay hidden, like there was too much horror and pain in the world and it was safer that way. But she felt that by allowing herself to tell Maura how she felt, it had unlocked that part of her that had hidden away in the shadows. It felt so good to feel like she used to again, after several years of being adrift and completely unsure of who she was anymore. She was absolutely determined she wasn't going to hide that or her relationship with Maura. Jane was done hiding full stop.

"C'mere Maura," she said softly, and drew the surprised but delighted smaller woman into her arms.

Maura sighed and wrapped her arms around Jane, closing her eyes and resting her head against the warmth of her chest. The stress and worry of the day began to fall away in the safety of her girlfriend's arms as Maura listened to Jane's slightly elevated heartbeat. Maura was scarcely able to believe that Jane had so easily initiated that level of physical contact with her in front of their closest friends, when she was sure Jane would want to ease into it gradually, or perhaps not even at all. But then Jane had surprised her earlier on that morning by being so open in front of Angela, even if at first that didn't appear to be her intention. Jane was usually so closed off, never usually had much physical contact with anybody but Maura, but here she was actually talking about her feelings and seeking physical contact with her in public. It was as surprising as it was wonderful.

"Christmas came early for somebody," Korsak said with a grin, the same grin he'd worn when Angela had phoned him at the butt crack of dawn to tell him that Jane had kissed Maura and hopped off to work willingly and all before 8am.

Frost couldn't help smiling too. If he hadn't already known, he would have guessed as much when he witnessed their closeness in the bullpen. Not only had he been happy to see them finally together, but he felt relief, because the prolonged period of ass ache caused by the two women arguing was finally at an end. In celebration of the fact, Frost casually flipped his phone from his belt, pressed several buttons and then the interior of the elevator was suddenly filled with the opening bars of Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get It On'.

As Maura and Korsak simultaneously burst out laughing, Jane reached out to her left and unceremoniously slapped him square across the forehead without even looking.

"Just for that, you can go pick up Zachary Dennison and bring him back here for further questioning while Korsak and I arrest Taylor and charge him with murder. When you've done that, we can find Chad Jefferson and lean on the son of a bitch until he screams." Jane ordered as Frost immediately began whining.

"That's not fair, Rizzoli! God, you've been so much meaner to me since you started gettin' laid."

Maura opened her mouth to speak, no doubt to tell him that nobody had been laid yet. But Jane pre-empted it and pressed her hand over the doctor's mouth, instantly wishing she hadn't when Maura began kissing her palm somewhat seductively, taking full advantage whilst her mouth was hidden from view. Jane groaned loudly in response to the wet, tantalising warmth of Maura's lips against her hand, and had to pretend she was mimicking Frost and his whining over having to conduct the Dennison interview.

"Stiff biccies, Frost!" Jane managed to throw at him before moving her hand from Maura's mouth and capturing her lips in a loving kiss. Several highly charged seconds later, she leaned back to look at her. "And you can help him, Maura."

"Jane!" it was Maura's turn to whine this time. Her lips curled into a full sexy pout as her eyes looked up at her sadly, in such a way that almost made Jane orgasm on the spot. "I'm not a detective and I've got work to do."

"Sure you have. You have to do that facial analysis, secret squirrel, super profiling thing you do, for your woman." Jane raised an eyebrow when it looked like Maura was going to argue again and pulled her from the elevator as soon as the doors opened onto the lobby. "You're waiting on retesting anyway, and there's nothing more you can do about Bannerman until Carrington returns your calls."

"My day does consist of more than just following you around Boston, Detective Rizzoli. You cannot use your personal relationship with me in order to get me to do things for you in a professional capacity." Maura's tone was businesslike, her nose tipped just high enough in the air to add a hint of haughty authority to her words.

"Hey, that was great. It almost sounded convincing," Jane said with a teasing tone as they crossed the lobby toward the exit.

"It did?" Maura beamed and then realised too late that Jane already knew that she'd do anything she asked of her. "Darn it!"

"Heh heh!" Jane chuckled again. "See? You know you love me."

"I do love you, very much," Maura said, coyly batting her eyelashes at her.

"I love you, too, baby." Jane grinned, making herself go violently pink around the ears when she realised exactly where she was and that her tough badass reputation was at stake. But then being the one who was lucky enough to date the smoking hot Chief Medical Examiner - despite any negativity connected to them both being women - would probably make up for it and top up her badass points considerably, even if she was being too cute and cuddly at work. She knew the inevitable comments about her being a dyke were coming; she'd dealt with stuff like that all of her career, she'd dealt with stuff like that in her private life too, and as much as it annoyed her to confirm what everybody had always said about her, the minute she looked at Maura and realised that someone as amazing as the blonde was in love with her, none of the names or the cruel taunts seemed to matter anymore.

"Ladies?" Korsak raised an eyebrow at them both, channelling Angela as he grinned from ear to ear like a proud father watching his babies.

"Yeah?" Jane tore her gaze away from eye-sexing with Maura and looked at her former partner. She caught the dopey expression on his face, and realised he was spending far too much time with her mother.

"Hate to break up the love fest, but cases to solve, people to arrest," he prompted, throwing a look at Frost too, who was still busy sulking as he fiddled with his cell phone.

"Right," Jane nodded and then leaned down to chastely kiss Maura again, not caring in the slightest that anyone might see. She had the hottest girlfriend on the face of the planet and they could all go and suck it. "I'll be back soon. Behave yourself and be nice to Barrold. No long words or Google-speak unless you draw him a picture, he's not as clever as you."

"I'm gonna kick your ass, Rizzoli," he said with a growl as he mimed throttling her.

"Sure you can get your leg up that high, short ass?" she chuckled as she walked towards the door and waved goodbye to her girlfriend.

"I won't respond to that, I'm too much of a gentleman," Frost dismissed her, ignoring her completely as he turned to Maura. "I'll just go pick up Dennison and I'll let you know when I'm back, Doctor Isles."

Maura nodded graciously and tried not to smile as she watched Jane still pulling funny faces at Frost behind his back. "I'll be waiting for you, Detective Frost."

Frost turned his head to see Jane still mocking him, and threw a "Later, Doc!" over his shoulder as he gave chase and caught up with Jane on the sidewalk.

Maura watched with a fond smile as Frost and Jane jostled around each other like children, whilst Korsak stood with his hands on hips and ordered them into their cars. It was a side of Jane that Maura loved, one that she didn't get to see very often, at least not directed at anybody but her and yet never as intensely as the last twenty-four hours. It was a side of Jane that apparently had been mostly hidden ever since Hoyt had poisoned her life. But in the last few hours, it felt like the old Jane that Angela spoke of was back and it felt surprising to Maura that she was partially the cause of it. She was overwhelmed with all the kinds of emotions she had always been afraid she would never feel until she met Jane, and although it was still slightly scary, she found that she was enjoying every single moment of it. She had a wonderful family, a career she loved despite the problems that had recently arisen, it was nearly Christmas, and the best thing of all, was that Jane Rizzoli loved her and Maura's heart was finally full.

As she turned toward the elevator, Angela caught her eye and they waved to each other. Should she go over for a chat? She had plenty of work she could do, but on the other hand, Frost would be back soon with Zachary Dennison. Her mind made up, she turned toward the cafe for an espresso and a chat with Angela. Screw it, it was nearly Christmas anyway and she'd had as much of Bannerman as she could stand for one day.

On crossing the lobby, the ring tone of her cell phone echoed shrilly through the air, interrupting pleasant thoughts of the impending holiday as she automatically answered the call. When she heard the voice on the other end, Maura realised how much further her day had just gone to hell.

* * *

**Ooh! I wonder what's going on there? There were several times during that chapter I said the same thing and I wrote it! lol. Well, we're at that point again where I say that if you enjoyed the chapter, please let me know, it would be great if you can spare a few minutes to review. If you can't spare a few minutes then that's okay too, I would never demand that anyone reviews and I remain grateful for all the follows and favourites that I do get. Always happy to read what you have to say though if you do feel like reviewing :) Thank you to everyone once again for reading, see you for the next chapter!**


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